The Federal government said that efforts were underway to extend Internet connection to different Unconnected areas across the country, targeting about 25 million people.
This disclosure was made by the Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani on Thursday at the 3MTT Nigeria National Impact Summit held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.
He stated that President Bola Tinubu has mandated the ministry to strengthen digital infrastructures development with the deployment of 4,000 telecom infrastructures to rural areas to ensure that 23 million Nigerians in unconnected areas are connected to the Internet.
He also disclosed that the government had trained about 135,000 Nigerians within the past two years on digital economy ecosystem, with some of them having opportunities to secure well paid jobs in tech companies, while others have had opportunities to travel to China, UK and other countries for further studies.
While applauding President Bola Tinubu for his commitment to the 3MTT programme and other digital technology innovation initiatives, he said within the first month of the launch of the 3MTT programme, over 1.8 million Nigerian youths signed onto the programme.
According to the Minister, by 2030 about 170 million jobs would be available for Nigerians who have tech skills, noting that the digital economy sector would remain vibrant and Nigeria would be in a position to fill vacancies in the sector with the approach adopted by the present administration to bring the youth on board the digital economy sector.
Tijani further highlighted the various supports and funding received by the government from the private sector and international institutions such as Google, Microsoft, IHS, Huawei, MTN, UNDP, African Development Bank among others.
He equally emphasised that the 3MTT programme is open to all Nigerian youths irrespective of status and class.
Also, the Minister further said under the programme, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC made available about 1.5 billion naira worth of laptops and other gadgets to beneficiaries, noting that the beneficiaries of the programme secured 15,000 direct jobs from different tech companies after their training.
