The increase of unemployment in Nigeria is alarming despite the efforts of the government to ensure its citizens are gainfully employed. According to a recent release by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the unemployment rate of Nigeria has increased from 14.2% to 18.8% in the third quarter of 2017 which had been the bane of national development.
It is evident that the white and blue collar jobs are not available for a large number of graduates from Nigerian institutions. This has made the Federal Government encourage youths to acquire skills in order to be self employed. These skills include: vocational skills such as fashion designing, shoe making, interior decoration, etc.
One of the aspects of entrepreneurship that has not been fully explored is “Digital Entrepreneurship”. This represents a joining of traditional entrepreneurship with an emphasis on new technologies, the opportunities created by these technologies, and new business forms.
Digital entrepreneurship was the crux of discussion during the Ilorin Digital Summit at Mazabs Event Centre, Tanke, Ilorin, Kwara State on 15th September, 2018. The programme was designed to intimate youths on the importance Information Communication Technology (ICT) in marketing and to train participants on how to access information from the internet for more economic ally beneficial purposes.
The guest speaker, the Executive Chairman of Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS) Dr Muritala Awodun urged participants to transform themselves as good resources that will grow the economy of Nigeria. According to him, technology can enhance creativity and youths should use technology applications to showcase their talents to the world.
Dr Awodun advised youths to surf the internet for useful information rather than engaging in immoral or illegal uses such as internet fraud which is currently rampant among the youths. He added that youths must embrace entrepreneurship to ease the over-burden of white collar jobs.
*Muritala Awodun, Ph.D is the Chairman, Kwara Internal Revenue Service.
