Google to train 20,000 Nigerian youths in digital skills

Google plans to train 20,000 Nigerian women and youth in digital skills and provide a grant of 1.2 billion naira ($1.6 million) to help the government create one million digital jobs in the country, its Africa executives said on Tuesday.

Nigeria plans to create digital jobs for its teeming youth population, Vice President Kashim Shettima told Google Africa executives during a meeting in Abuja. Shettima did not provide a timeline for creating the jobs.

Google Africa executives said a grant from its philanthropic arm in partnership with Data Science Nigeria and the Creative Industry Initiative for Africa will facilitate the programme.

Shettima said Google’s initiative aligned with the government’s commitment to increase youth participation in the digital economy. The government is also working with the country’s banks on the project, Shettima added.

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Google director for West Africa Olumide Balogun said the company would commit funds and provide digital skills to women and young people in Nigeria and also enable startups to grow, which will create jobs.

Google is committed to investing in digital infrastructure across Africa, Charles Murito, Google Africa’s director of government relations and public policy, said during the meeting, adding that digital transformation can be a job enabler.

Google is an American multinational technology company focusing on artificial intelligence, online advertising, and search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, and consumer electronics.

 It has been referred to as “the most powerful company in the world” and as one of the world’s most valuable brands due to its market dominance, data collection, and technological advantages in the field of artificial intelligence.

Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. is one of the five Big Tech companies, alongside Amazon, Apple Inc., Meta Platforms, and Microsoft.

Google was founded on September 4, 1998, by computer scientists Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were PhD students at Stanford University in California.