Huawei, telecomm giant, has unveiled its plans to invest $150 million in digital talent development in Nigeria over the next five years that will benefit three million youths.
“Today we are announcing Huawei’s Seeds for the Future Programme 2.0. As part of our commitment to continuously develop talent, we will invest US$150 million in this program over the next five years and help college students and young people improve their digital skills.
This programme is expected to benefit another 3 million people,” said Huawei’s Chairman Liang Hua in a statement.
In 2008, Huawei began to expand its talent development programs, through scholarships, technology competitions, and digital skills training, and has invested more than US$150 million in these programs.
Huawei has tremendously benefited more than 1.54 million people from over 150 countries.
“Seeds for the Future’’ is a programme designed to help cultivate young talent around the world, providing them with training from global ICT experts on the latest technology to help them develop the skills and mind sets needed to be competitive in the workplaces of the future.
Huawei introduced this programme to Africa in 2014. Over the past years, the program has benefited nearly 2,000 students in more than 25 African countries.
The programme and Huawei’s efforts in ICT talent development has been recognized by many African governments.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, stated that “Nigeria is positioning to be the continent’s leader in digitalisation.
Burkina Faso already has a ministry of digital economy but we have so many advantages” The advantages, according to him, include the country’s population and location, the contribution of the ICT to Gross Domestic Product, and the level of the ICT literacy among Nigerians.
He added the government would henceforth be proactive in the ICT through effective application of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robotics, and Virtual Reality.
He noted that in a few years, Nigerians might no longer need to travel to India or other foreign countries for medical treatment, as surgeries could be performed on patients anywhere in the world by means of 5G technology.
He urged the 10 Nigerian students selected from different institutions for the Huawei internship programme to see themselves as future entrepreneurs in order to make the best of the opportunity.
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