Google to teach 20,000 Nigerians digital skills

Google will train 20,000 Nigerian women and youths in digital skills and provide a 1.2 billion naira ($1.6 million) grant to the government of Nigeria to create one million digital jobs in the country.

Nigeria wants to create digital jobs for its rapidly growing and young population, as became clear on a meeting of Google Africa executives, but no timeline is yet known for this. The government wants to increase youth participation in the digital economy, and is also working with the country’s banks to this end.

The grant is provided by Google’s philanthropic arm, in partnership with Data Science Nigeria and the Creative Industry Initiative for Africa. In addition, Google will also support startups, which will create more jobs.

Google’s investment in digital infrastructure across Africa is designed to shape digital transformation and create jobs. Of course, this (in itself commendable) initiative is not completely devoid of self-interest: the more people are digitally skilled, the more Google products are used, and the more revenue can be obtained from advertising, the largest source of revenue for Google.