Vice president Kashim Shettima has said Nigeria will leverage its relationship with China to adopt programmes that will improve the country’s digital space, among other benefits.
Shettima also assured member countries of the Belt and Road Initiative of Nigeria’s readiness to “collaborate with the group and other emerging markets to bring about a positive shift in the growth and development of global economies.”
According to a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, the vice president stated these in his keynote address themed, “Digital Economy As A New Source Of Growth”, delivered during the High-Level Forum at the ongoing 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, China.
The vice president who spoke on Nigeria’s efforts at leveraging collaborations with partners to deploy technology in addressing some of its challenges, noted:
“We are keen on using the instrumentality of the existing robust Nigeria-China bilateral relations to maximally key into projects under the platform of the Digital Silk Road for the improvement of our digital space.”
Speaking about Nigeria’s efforts in leveraging the digital space to create jobs and diversify the economy, Sen. Shettima said, “Nigeria has recorded a number of achievements including a digitalized public service, developed banking and e-payment systems, electoral reforms through the introduction of the electronic registration of voters and e-transmission of votes, thus creating ripple effects of job creation and human capacity building opportunities for our teeming youth population.”
Continuing, the VP said, “We have recently unveiled the new strategic blueprint, accelerating our collective prosperity through technology, as part of the Federal Government’s initiative to accelerate the diversification of the Nigerian economy by enhancing productivity in critical sectors through technological innovation.”
He added: “Through this strategic blueprint, the Federal Government aims to achieve three key objectives namely: Accelerate the growth of Nigeria as a global technical talent hub and net exporter of talent.
“One of the goals of this talent hub is to train three million early to mid-career technical talents throughout the next four years (2022-2027); Deepen and accelerate its position in global research in key technology areas; and Raise the complexity and dynamics of Nigeria’s economy by significantly increasing the level of digital literacy across the country.”
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