Facebook has partnered with Nigerian technology-oriented centre Co-Creation Hub (Cc-HUB) to open its very first community hub space on the continent. It will also facilitate a series of long-term impact training programmes for 50 000 Nigerians.

According to the social network, 'NG_HUB from Facebook', scheduled to open early next year, aims to bring together the wider tech community to collaborate on ideas.

It will also host a start-up incubator programme "all aimed at attracting the best talent and driving innovation in Nigeria's tech ecosystem."

Ebele Okobi, Facebook public policy director, Africa says, "In Nigeria, more than 22 million people use Facebook every month and 87% of SMEs say that when they hire, digital skills are more important than where an applicant went to school. This demonstrates that the power of digital skills to aid economic growth and development has never been more important."

"Our investments and commitments announced in Lagos today further reflect our intent to partner with Nigeria's policy makers and its vibrant tech and entrepreneurial eco-system to create economic opportunity and independence in Nigeria and across Africa," says Okobi.

Emeka Afigbo, Head of Platform Partnerships, Middle East & Africa at Facebook, says "Nigeria is producing a new generation of exciting start-ups that have incredible potential. The goal is to train and support over 50,000 students, small businesses and creative entrepreneurs across the country through a series of scaled digital skills training, as well as long-term impact programmes."

Ahead of the programme launch, Facebook undertook an economic impact study to better understand how small businesses and consumers in Nigeria use the platform and the effectiveness of social media as a growth tool.

"Nearly 1 in 2 small businesses on Facebook say they built their business on the platform, and 62% stated they have been able to use Facebook to help find employees for their business, whilst over half (58%) of small businesses on the platform say they have been able to hire more employees' due to growth since joining Facebook," reads an excerpt from the study.

According to statcounter.com, as of October 2017, Facebook is the most commonly used social media platform in Nigeria after Twitter and has largest market share by platform in the rest of Africa (87.06%), Pinterest 5.21%, YouTube 4.07%, Twitter 2.52%, Instagram 0.27%, reddit 0.19%.