An Information and Communications Technology company, Zinox Technologies, has secured a $25m counterpart funding with which it seeks to roll out a trio of digital hubs in Nigeria.

This was an aftermath of the visit of the Facebook Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg, to Nigeria. During the visit, Zuckerberg encouraged the establishment of digital hubs that would enhance ICT skills of Nigerian youths and children.

According to Zinox, the counterpart funding is also part of efforts to generate creative employment and increase the share of contribution from the ICT sector to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.

Zinox said that the digital hubs would, among other things, create employment and empower thousands of digital minded Nigerian youths in search of the right platforms to develop their skills.

“With the current improvements raising hopes of stability in public power supply by early 2017, the company plans to install the digital plants and commence production shortly,” the Chairman of Zinox, Leo Stan Ekeh, said.

Ekeh said that the Nigerian economy was in dire need of an alternative to crude oil. “And this is a role the ICT sector can play in boosting the nation’s dwindling earnings,” he said.

In the view of the Zinox boss, “Nigeria has millions of young Nigerians of digital mindset with the potential to become dollar billionaires.”

He referenced the case of a Nigerian start-up and pioneer composite e-commerce outfit, Yudala, “which received little funding from investors and within one year is a leading e-commerce brand in Nigeria employing over 400 graduates.”

Ekeh disclosed that the strength of Nigerian kids was not in cash, but knowledge of the business backed with strong front and back-end technologies.

He affirmed that thousands of such brilliant kids exist in the country, even as he urged the government to collaborate with technological- minded companies in unearthing such raw digital diamonds in the country.

“A simple app developed by a Nigerian, which achieves global acceptance, could usher such an individual into the league of billionaires while putting the country on the world map.

“I had a similar experience when Zinox acquired an Ibadan-based software company, Xputer. The young chaps behind Xputer were so talented and had huge capacity to develop amazing content, but no individual, corporate or government saw any potential in them.

“Some of the apps developed by these young Nigerians are being used today by e-commerce companies in Nigeria which they would have paid millions of dollars for, had it been developed by foreign companies,” he said.

He also said, “With the digital hubs, we are looking to generate creative employment for our youths while creating the much-needed enabling environment and platform for more of these youths to develop their capacities and unleash their creative abilities.

“This is part of our contribution towards reducing the scourge of unemployment and boosting the revenue-earning streams of the government.”

He added, “We are the last company in the country that will retrench quality Nigerian staff. In fact, our investment in digital hubs will provide jobs for 500 Nigerians, with more expected to benefit from other investments set to commence once the economy stabilises.”

Meanwhile, the Acting Director-General, the National Information Technology Development Agency, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, has affirmed the commitment of the agency to partnering Zinox Technologies in the task of empowering the youth through the provision of requisite capacity-building programmes and initiatives.

Olatunji said that the NITDA was keen to empower tech start-ups as a means of promoting opportunities in non-oil sectors, noting that a partnership with Zinox Technologies would go a long way in helping to achieve this aim.

“We cannot talk about the ICT sector in Nigeria and indeed in Africa without mentioning Zinox. Zinox has been in the forefront of the digital revolution on the continent and has continued to play a major role.

“You have shown extreme world-class capacity and passion as a leader in the sector and this is why we have come on this visit to restate our commitment to working with Zinox to achieve our objectives of empowering tech start-ups and boosting the revenue profile of the ICT sector,” the NITDA boss said.

While noting that the government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to supporting local entrepreneurship, particularly in the ICT sector, Olatunji further solicited the support of Zinox Technologies in collaborating with the agency ahead of Gulf Information Technology Exhibition 2016 Technology Week slated for October.

However, the President of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association, Mr. Sunday Folayan, has expressed fear over Zuckerberg’s visit to the country, saying that Nigeria, through its Internet kids, may soon export ideas.

According to him, the visit may just be another avenue of coming for tech start-ups in Nigeria with great ideas that have remained untapped by successive governments (apart from the tax), “even with the dead mantra of seeking other sources of revenue beyond oil.”

He added, “Soon, we will import ideas, and I hope the government will not convince us that we need to import a Minister of ICT.”