Monday, 15 December 2008 00:21 EMEKA EZEKIEL
Global information and communication giant, Microsoft, has set an
ambitious target of training 50,000 Nigerian youths on IT and
outsourcing skills. Ken Spann, Developer Platform Evangelist Lead for
Microsoft Anglophone West Africa, told Business Day in an interview in
Lagos that the initiative is aimed at facilitating the development of
a vibrant outsourcing sector that would ultimately make Nigeria the IT
Enabled Outsourcing hub in West Africa .
Spann explained that Microsoft would partner with the government,
individual and corporate organisations in order to develop the
country's potentials in outsourcing business.
Said he "Our objective within the next five years is to train 50,000
Nigerian youths, especially students, in various areas of information
and communication technology using Microsoft curriculum. We want to
train developers and people that know how to establish communication
solutions based on Microsoft applications. We are ready to provide the
help, training and other resources that are required towards
empowering Nigerian youths with the necessary information and
communications technology skills.
" Nigeria has the potentials to become the premier outsourcing country
in the world. The World Bank has just commissioned a study that says
Nigeria can be the premier outsourcing country in the world. Microsoft
will be exploring and looking at this opportunity. We shall be
partnering with individuals and corporate organisations towards
exploring this opportunity .We have plans to raise the intellectual
capital and capacity of Nigerians because the future is very bright
for the Nigerian economy."
According to Spann, "If you look at Indian, for instance, everybody
there is talking about outsourcing. In India , English is not their
language yet they learn English on top of everything else. On the
other hand, English is the official language in Nigeria . Therefore,
that impediment is already out of the way which makes Nigeria a more
favourable outsourcing destination because English is the language for
business in the world. With this, it is easy for Microsoft to build IT
capacity in Nigeria . The reality is that outsourcing training is part
of the Microsoft curriculum which is coming up in the future. We
intend to work with the government, corporate organisation
universities in strengthening outsourcing initiatives in Nigeria .
Globally, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) and Large Scale
Enterprises (LSEs) are constantly searching for economies where cheap
and readily available outsourcing skills could be deployed to improve
their overall profitability.
Outsourcing of non-core operations or jobs from internal production to
an external entity, such as a sub-contractor, is gradually changing
the landscape of businesses globally. Even in developed economies,
companies are taking advantage of cheap and readily available
outsourcing expertise in other markets to strengthen their competitive
advantage. India and China are among the emerging economies that have
made outsourcing a key driver of economic growth and development.
According to the National Outsourcing Policy and Institutional
Framework, Nigeria's outsourcing sector is estimated to provide 10,000
jobs in both Information Technology(IT) and non-IT related fields in
the first three years of implementation and over 45,000 new jobs in
the next four years.
The policy was formulated in January, 2007. In addition, the federal
government's revenue from licensing and taxation of profits from
outsourcing companies is projected to grow from N55 million in the
fifth year to over N1.3 billion by the tenth year.
Author of this article: EMEKA EZEKIEL
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