ABUJA – The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has said digital innovation and entrepreneurship remain the panacea to addressing the high rate of unemployment plaguing the country.
Speaking in Abuja at the inaugurationof theMIT-RegionalEntrepreneurship Acceleration Programme (MIT-REAP) Advisory Committee, Pantami said Nigeria’s economy cannot develop by only reliance on natural resources.
He explained that MIT-REAP would provide opportunities for communities around the world to engage with Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as drive economic growth and innovation-driven entrepreneurship in Nigeria.
He underscored the need for Nigerian government to deploy more ingenious ways to tackling unemployment among the teeming youths.
According to him, ‘‘The main purpose of the programme is to adopt, and adapt, MIT’s proven framework on accelerating innovation to create localised strategies for developing and sustaining enterprises driven by innovation (IDEs).
‘‘The march towards a digital economy, which I currently oversee, will depend on harnessing scaled innovation towards fulfilling the eight pillars, which our national strategy is built upon.
‘‘Although the programme emphasises regional teams, the benefits from this undertaking invariably spread beyond local boundaries; which can only be good for Nigeria.”
Source: Independent
