EMPLOYMENT GENERATION THROUGH ICT: A CASE STUDY OF DELTA STATE OF NIGERIA ICT PARKS PROJECT

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Ann I. Ogbo ORCID logo, Anthony Kifordu ORCID logo, Wilfred Isioma Ukpere ORCID logo

https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv12i4csp5

Abstract

Statistically, Nigeria has a youth population of about 67 million, aged between 15 and 35 years. 42.2% of these young people are not gainfully employed while only 20% have more than the secondary school certificate. In order to bridge this gap, the Delta State Government developed the Delta ICT parks, a growing 21st century business, service and technology facility equipped to train, educate and encourage an entrepreneurial culture with sound human resource, that would drive development of an ICT knowledge based economy. This initiative, borne out of the Delta beyond oil is already in steady progress, enjoying the partnership of System Application Product (SAP) under the platform of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) that portends a global IT based future. The objective of this paper is to access the level of implementation and publicity, skill acquisition and degree of the impact of the initiative on employment generation in Delta State. The study, which adopted a survey design, applied three research questions and used oral interview and a Millennium Park Entrepreneurial Assessment Questionnaire (MPEAQ). The content validity was validated by experts from Entrepreneurial Skills Development and Human Resources Management of Delta State Polytechnic Ogwashi-Uku (DESPOG) with a test, re-test reliability coefficient of 0.82. A Sample of 350 was drawn using stratified random sampling technique from an undeterminable growing population comprising of secondary, tertiary education students, trainees and graduates of the programme. The simple percentage was used for data analysis. The findings revealed the need for the establishment of ICT parks with adequate awareness campaign. Also, that ICT skill acquisition is a panacea for employment generation in most societies. Recommendations were made based on findings on this model of employment generation through ICT in Delta State of Nigeria.

Keywords: ICTs, Employment Generation, Millennium Park

How to cite this paper: Ogbo, A. I., Kifordu, A. A., & Ukpere, W. I. (2015). Employment generation through ICT: A case study of delta state of Nigeria ICT parks project [Special issue]. Corporate Ownership & Control, 12(4), 851-856. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv12i4csp5