*Says Nigerians spent $7bn making online purchases in 2021

By Luminous Jannamike

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Chief Sunday Dare, has called on youths in the country to leverage e-commerce technology to create wealth and improve their financial well-being.

He made the call in a keynote address at the maiden edition of the Young CEOs Summit in Abuja weekend.

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The theme of the event was ‘Leveraging Technology for Sustainable Commerce and Leadership Excellence’.

Dare stated that the country reported over $7 billion in online trading revenue, contributing 29% to the global e-commerce growth rate in 2021.

He explained that leveraging technology for commercial activities would provide a cost-effective means of reaching the untapped market.

According to him, it will also simplify the means of serving existing customers.

“Nigeria’s e-commerce spending currently stands at $12b and is projected to reach $75b in 2025. We are the 33rd largest market in the world with a revenue of $7b in 2021, contributing to the worldwide growth rate of 29% last year,” the Minister said.

He also said that the Federal Government had partnered with an indigenous e-commerce giant, Konga, to benefit the youths and small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).

According to him, the Ministry will pay 50 percent of the bills required for young Nigerians and other SMEs to retail products on the platform.

Other benefits, he said, include: “The provision of co-working spaces for free; provision of warehousing for merchandise with a 50% cost reduction; free virtual training; employment and signing up logistics companies and individuals introduced by the Ministry as well as engagement of young persons registered under the Ministry’s Work Experience Programme (WEP).”

He disclosed that so far about 200,000 young Nigerians have shown interest in the programme.

Dare, however, challenged young people to utilise the power of information technology for data collection to support the development of policies and intervention programmes for national growth and development.

In the area of leadership, the Federal Government said that the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre (CLTC) trained about 42,000 youths last year.

“Acquiring leadership skills is important for young people. The transfer of knowledge is key. The Ministry is deeply involved and interested in initiatives such as the Nigerian Youth Parliament. It is important to note that the first speaker of the Parliament, Rt. Honourable Luke Onofiok is now a member of the House of Representatives. He was a member of the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly and later the Speaker,” Dare added.