French Foreign Trade and Investment Minister, Olvier Brencht is set to visit Nigeria with the primary motive of deepening trade and investment across certain sectors.

Brencht, who announced his decision to visit the largest African country this year, hinted at French government plans to commit a sum of 116 million dollars to the Nigerian economy through Investment in Digital and creative enterprise (I-DICE) programme.

I-DICE is a federal government initiative purposely set up to significantly impact the youthful population. Its primary objective is to contribute to job creation and to reinforce youth employability by assisting the government to achieve its National Development Plan objective of creating 21 million jobs by 2025. The programme intends to create 150,000 jobs and 65,000 start-ups.

Speaking on French interest in the programme, Brencht disclosed that his government is driven by the tremendous potentials that are foreseen in Nigeria and in Africa, regarding the opportunities in the digital, cultural and creative sectors.

“One of the key components of I-DICE is to support the creation of innovative businesses and start-ups. However, the program goes beyond that. France’s contribution will also directly support the strengthening and development of key skills in the creative industries and the ICT sector by enhancing capacities of identified training centers, in order to sustain this industry on a long run,” he said.