Meta To Launch New Feature To Empower Nigerian Content Creators
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook announced plans to launch a new feature on its Instagram and Facebook app in June 2024, aimed at empowering Nigerian creators to monetize their content and earn a livelihood through the platform.
This announcement was made by Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, following a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the presidential villa yesterday.
Addressing the team, the president said: “We are serious with our 3MTT programme, which is training three million Nigerian youths in digital technology and essential skills before deploying them to innovation hubs across the nation, because the Nigerian youths are the most critical asset in Nigeria’s arsenal as it moves to achieve digital economic expansion.
“For us in Nigeria, we have a vibrant, gifted and resourceful youth population. Recognizing that the future is most likely to be AI-enabled, we have to prepare our youths and make them ready to compete and participate in the global economy.”
In his remarks, Clegg expressed gratitude to President Tinubu for facilitating an executive order crucial to the landing of Meta-backed deep-sea cable infrastructure in Nigeria.
He said, “It is an extraordinary infrastructure project. When it comes on stream in the first quarter of 2025, it will be twice as much as the capacity of all subsea cables that exist.
“We buried the cable 50 per cent deeper than any other subsea cables under the seabed.”
He further emphasised the cable’s potential economic impact, estimating, “It could yield up to 37 billion dollars worth of increase in economic activity in the next two or three years across the African continent.”
Clegg then elaborated on Meta’s commitment, saying, “We have a lot to do with Nigeria to deepen partnerships,” and affirmed, “We will, in June 2024, introduce a feature on our Instagram app that will allow Nigerian creators to monetize their content to enable them to earn a living using the app.”
Also speaking, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr ‘Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, echoed the importance of Meta platforms in Nigeria, stressing the need for collaborative engagements to drive development in the digital economy sector.
He emphasised the importance of collaboration, stating, “We must continue to engage to create opportunities for our people so they can also share in global prosperity.”