i-FAIR3: Israel Seeks Partnership With Federal Govt To Create 1m Jobs

The Israeli Government has mapped out strategies to partner with the Federal  Government to create one million jobs in Nigeria by supporting the Nigerian innovators and inventors with  digital skills and the needed  investment  and infrastructure.

Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, stated this during the official launch of the Third edition of the  Innovation Fellowship  for Aspiring Inventors and Researchers (i-FAIR) programme in Abuja on Thursday. He explained  that  the move is in line with the desire of President Bola Tinubu to improve Nigeria’s economy, through digital   innovation  and invention.

“Israel, which is a world leader in digital economy and is world leader in attracting investment and also, investing in other places, we very much buy into this vision and we want to be a partner with President Tinubu and his administration, to help create the environment for investment and to help create those million jobs in a digital economy.

“And that is why we are so excited to be here today because the I-Fair programme for innovators and for entrepreneurs is exactly one of those programmes that will help to create a million jobs in a digital economy. They will help to create investment, they will help to create a new generation of Nigerian entrepreneurs, of Nigerian innovators, of Nigerians who could create more work, who could create more jobs, and who could create a greater economy,” Freeman said.

Freeman had explained that the I-Fair programme is about enhancing  the capacity of  Nigerians who have ideas and  concept but are struggling  to go to the next level by tapping  from the rich resources of  Israeli innovators and entrepreneurs to improve their talent

“What we want to do through the I-Fair programme is to provide mentorship and leadership and help both from Nigerians who have proven themselves of being incredibly successful, but also from Israel as well, using Israel’s experience as a country who has 45 per cent of our GDP as based on human capital where we have the highest number of startups per capita anywhere in the world and our investment in research and development as you have in any other country in the world as well,” Freeman  said.

Also speaking, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, an adviser to the programme, said the collaboration between Nigeria and Israel has been productive , particularly in the area of helping Nigeria to commercialise a lot of the research and development that comes out of Nigerian universities, in partnership with the Inov8 programme.

“I am particularly excited about the direction and about the vigour with which Israel has embraced partnership with Nigeria, particularly with respect to the President’s mandate for a million jobs in the digital economy.

“It is an extremely important mandate, but we are not going to be able to get there without the support and the knowledge that comes from collaborative partners like Israel,” Aboyeji said.

Aboyeji urged young Nigerians to tap into the I-Fair programme with all the enthusiasm that it required because the support from Inov8 and the State of Israel cannot be wasted.

“It is an unbelievable opportunity for you to take your innovation and skill and of course, we are on the other side of the fence, waiting for those innovations that make it through so that we can provide them with the necessary events to capture all that will be required to actually make this large and successful venture,” Aboyeji said.