The Federal Government has said it engaged Starlink owned by Elon Musk to explore the possibility of establishing programmes to create jobs in the country.

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, disclosed this on his X account on Sunday.

According to the minister, the talks happened on the sidelines of the ongoing International Telecommunication Union-World RadioCommunication conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. .

Mr Tijani revealed that he met with the Senior Director of Global Licensing and Activation at SpaceX, Ryan Goodnight, who said that Nigeria was their largest market in Africa.

The minister disclosed that they discussed how Starlink could establish a programme to certify local installers and maintenance personnel in Nigeria and explore contracts for hardware startups to produce Starlink’s repeater boxes locally.

Mr Tijani said, “Excellent conversation with Ryan Goodnight, Snr. Director, Global Licensing & Activation of @SpaceX on the sidelines of ITU-WRC 23, who shared that Nigeria is their biggest market in Africa. As demand for @Starlink continues to grow in Nigeria, we spoke about the issue of connecting unserved and underserved Nigerians.

“I also mentioned the possibility of creating thousands of new jobs in Nigeria through initiatives like a certified installer/maintenance programme for Starlink and working with hardware startups to produce repeater boxes locally.”

“Our intention is to encourage every tech company to invest and deepen our tech ecosystem,” he added.