Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo asserted that Nigeria has now become the technology investment destination in Sub-Saharan Africa.
He further affirmed that the President Buhari’s administration would continue to step up efforts in providing stable macroeconomic, conducive business environment, infrastructure and security nationwide.
Professor Osinbajo stated this on Thursday during a one-day working visit to Kaduna State, where he was the Special Guest of Honour at the Kaduna Economic & Investment Summit (KADINVEST 6.0), with the theme, “Towards a Sustainable Knowledge-based Economy.”
KADINVEST is a platform to showcase and promote Kaduna State and Nigeria as a major investment destination in Africa.
According to him, “with global gaps in talent, well-planned training programmes could even see Nigeria become a hub for critical technical talent. This was proven with the success of Andela in developing and placing Software Engineering talent and can be replicated across a broader range of STEM disciplines.”
While highlighting the great strides being made by Nigerian youth in reaping the rewards of a knowledge economy through digital technology, the VP noted that “Nigeria is now the technology investment destination in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
“Here in Nigeria, youth-run digital businesses are also making great strides. FinTech companies and other technology-enabled solutions are expanding so rapidly that the future of banking and financial services may not belong to banks or bankers as we know them today.
“Companies like Paystack, which was recently acquired for $200million, Kuda Bank without a single physical branch, Prospa that is revolutionizing banking for small businesses by tailoring banking and digital solutions, and Eyowo that built the platform for TraderMoni and MarketMoni, are creating jobs and crowding in investment.
“We are also seeing the impact of disruptive technology in our critical agricultural sector. Tomato Jos’ processing facility will be commissioned tomorrow here in Kaduna with a capacity to produce tomato paste of 85 tonnes per day (another product of KADINVEST). Tomato Jos is helping to build a model for integration of processing and subsistence farming that can be scaled across the country to solve our perennial issue of producing raw materials without knowledge-based value addition, ” he explained.
Professor Osinbajo said that a “sound, relevant, practical, problem-solving, education” system will further boost national development because a knowledge-based economy “is entirely dependent on intellectual capital, a workforce and talent pool that is educated, adaptable and dynamic.”
