FG partners with U.S. firm to create 50,000 remote jobs for Nigerians

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Anite, has disclosed the partnership between the Federal government and US cybersecurity Insitute Lab Four to create 50,000 Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) jobs such as telesales, customer service, virtual administrative assistant, marketing/social media assistant and tech/cybersecurity in the next three years.

Anite revealed this during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in Abuja on Monday, March 18, 2024.

She added that the scheme is under the National Talent Export Programme (NATEP), which signed the MoU with Lab Four and could rake in an annual influx of about $1.2 billion to the Nigerian economy.

Analysts are also of the opinion that the global outsourcing market was estimated at $620.381 billion as of 2020 and is projected to exceed $900 billion by 2027, with Nigeria having a great lead in providing top-tier talent to the international service export and the outsourcing sector.

The MoU partly reads: “The MoU being signed between NATEP and Lab Four will channel 50,000 BPO jobs to Nigeria over the next three years.

“In job categories such as telesales, customer service, virtual administrative assistant, marketing/social media assistant and tech/cybersecurity.

“The jobs generated through this partnership have the potential to annually attract up to 1.2 billion dollars into the Nigerian economy through remuneration to the employed persons.

“In addition to about 60 million dollars, it will provide the development of the BPO ecosystem through direct support to the individual BPOs,” Anite said.

Anite stressed that NATEP represents a significant national effort to establish Nigeria as a premier international centre for service exports, talent sourcing, and exports.

She stated that NATEP is a specialised body to tackle the requirements and obstacles encountered in the talent and service export industry.

The minister continued: “And as a prime location for high-quality talent. We will create an environment for the growth of the BPO industry across the country.

“To enable workers to work in BPOs near their residence locations.”

The National Coordinator of NATEP, Femi Adeluyi, added that the programme will focus particularly on the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector.

Femi also assured that a transparent job selection process with only the most suitable candidates would be shortlisted after evaluation.

BEB