TheCable

The federal executive council (FEC) has approved the sum of N8.9 billion for the establishment of an information, communication and technology (ICT) park.

Isa Pantami, minister for communications and digital economy, stated this on Wednesday after the FEC meeting in Abuja.

He said 4,200 square meters of land has been earmarked for the park to be established in the federal capital territory (FCT).

Pantami said the park will be a centre for technological development, adding that it will also boost job creation.

“The wisdom behind the ICT Park is for it to be a center where public and private ICT hubs are going to be coordinated by the federal government of Nigeria, where young innovators with crazy and disruptive ideas will be mentored and all what they need provided for,” he said.

“We will provide enabling environment for them to utilize and come up with disruptive technologies.

“This is the first of its kind in Nigeria, we have so many parks and hubs but they are regional. This one will be central and will be a center of job creation for our teeming youths.

“It will be a center where technology will be developed and incubated. It will play a significant role in reducing unemployment and the reduce the gap of unemployability.

“The Federal Executive Council has approved the memo and we are going to start [the process] establishing it in Abuja and we hope Abuja is going to be another Silicon Valley in Nigeria.”