The Federal Government and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) are collaborating to launch the second phase of partnership in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that would develop experts and highly skilled laborers in that field in Nigeria.

This was disclosed on Thursday when a high-powered delegation from the KOICA office, led by its Country Director, Sook Hyun Park, paid a courtesy visit to the Federal Ministry of Communications, Abuja.

The Country Director said that the South Korean Government, through KOICA, has enjoyed a strong partnership with the Federal Ministry of Communications in its e-government capacity building project in the past seven years.

“Our first e-government project, which has existed for the past seven years with a strong partnership with Federal Ministry of Communications, would be concluded next year. We shall keep our effort and support to Nigeria’s e-Government. In the second project, which we plan to embark upon, our interest would be in developing human skilled labor in ICT areas hence the need for the Minister to share his expertise and ideas that would be of good direction to the Federal Government,” Sook Hyun stated.

He further explained that KOICA’s visit to the Ministry of Communications was aimed at introducing the agency’s upcoming project (phase 2) being worked towards year 2020 and beyond, following the conclusion of the introductory (first phase) which would be concluded by 2019.

In his contribution, Headquarter Coordinator of KOICA, An Kwangsoo, said that the agency was set to move from the introductory part of its partnership project, which was focused on e-government capacity building, scholarship for Masters and PHD Degrees in Korean Universities for Nigerians to a bigger phase in order to assist the country in achieving the implementation of her e-government master plan.

In his remarks, the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, thanked KOICA on behalf of the Federal Government for generously investing so much towards the development of Nigeria, particularly in areas of e-government and capacity building.

The Minister said that the Nigerian Government cannot take KOICA’s selfless cooperation for granted and urged them to sustain the smooth relationship that is being enjoyed by both parties in service to humanity.

He urged the agency to meet with the Ministry’s e-government department to work together for a very beneficial launch of the second phase of broader partnership between the Federal Government and the Republic of Korea via KOICA.

In the new phase, Shittu urged the agency to make conscientious efforts to ensure at least 100,000 civil servants are trained annually, to improve Nigeria’s system of operations to be more effective and efficient.

He also appealed to them to collaborate with the Nigerian universities by sending technology gurus from the Korean universities to impart technological ideas and knowledge to students in Nigeria who shall in turn train others.