The Israeli Government has expressed its readiness to partner with the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to create one million jobs in the country.

Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, stated this during the official launch of the third I-Fair programme in Abuja.

Freeman recalled that on May 29th, 2023, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was inaugurated as president of Nigeria and the key focus of his inauguration speech was improving and strengthening Nigeria’s economy.

Freeman said Tinubu actually spoke specifically on a number of targets; one of which was to increase investment in Nigeria, both foreign investment and internal investment and also to create one million jobs in a digital economy.

“Israel, which is a world leader in digital economy and is world leader in attracting investment and also, investing in other places, we very much buy into this vision and we want to be a partner with President Tinubu and his administration, to help create the environment for investment and to help create those million jobs in a digital economy.

“And that is why we are so excited to be here today because the I-Fair programme for innovators and for entrepreneurs is exactly one of those programmes that will help to create the million jobs in a digital economy. They will help to create investment, they will help to create a new generation of Nigerian entrepreneurs, of Nigerian innovators, of Nigerians who could create more work, who could create more jobs, and who could create greater economy,” Freeman said.

Earlier, Freeman explained that the I-Fair programme is about taking young Nigerians who have an idea, who have a concept, who are struggling to go to the next level, to Israeli and Nigerian innovators and entrepreneurs.

“What we want to do through the I-Fair programme is to provide mentorship and leadership and help both from Nigerians who have proven themselves of being incredibly successful, but also from Israel as well, using Israel’s experience as a country who has 45 percent of our GDP as based on human capital where we have the highest number of start ups per capita anywhere in the world and our investment in research and development as you have in any other country in the world as well,” Freeman also said.

Also speaking, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, an adviser to the programme, said the collaboration between Nigeria and Israel has been extremely fruitful, particularly in the area of helping Nigeria to commercialise a lot of the research and development that comes out of Nigerian universities, in partnership with the Inov8 programme.

“I am particularly excited about the direction and about the vigour with which Israel has embraced partnership with Nigeria, particularly with respect to the President’s mandate for a million jobs in the digital economy.

“It is an extremely important mandate, but we are not going to be able to get there without the support and the knowledge that comes from collaborative partners like Israel,” Aboyeji said.

Aboyeji further called on young Nigerians to tap into the I-Fair programme with all the enthusiasm that it required because the support from Inov8 and the State of Israel cannot be wasted.

“It is an unbelievable opportunity for you to take your innovation and skill and of course, we are on the other side of the fence, waiting for those innovations that make it through so that we can provide them with the necessary events to capture all that will be required to actually make this large and successful venture,” Aboyeji also said. (Daily Sun)

•Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman,with other guests at the official launch of the third I-Fair programme in Abuja.

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