On the first day of the Digital Nigeria Conference, which was hosted by NITDA, the central theme focused on how emerging technologies may propel Nigeria. Speakers and panellists addressed how Nigeria could propel itself even further.
The conference was held in Lagos.
The National Information Technology Development Agency, Nigeria’s IT regulatory agency, recently kicked off the 2023 edition of its annual Digital Nigeria Conference in Abuja. The conference takes place in Nigeria. Bosun Tijani, the minister of communications, innovation, and the digital economy in Nigeria, gave a speech at the conference that he called “a
celebration of progress.” In it, he celebrated how Nigeria has built its digital economy over the years and how it has been validated as the top destination for technology funding in Africa. He called the conference “a celebration of progress.”
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Comments from the minister of communications
Tijani admitted that there is still a great deal of work to be done in the field of telecommunications; nonetheless, he said that the field has the largest revenue of any industry in Africa.
“Today, Nigeria is Africa’s top destination for technology startup capital. With about $5 billion invested in tech startups on the continent last year, we took 20% of that total investment. That’s just a glimpse of what is possible,” Tijani said. He attributed this progress to “progressives,” describing them as people “who have taken it upon themselves” to get Nigeria to participate in the global economy.”
Comments from Main One’s CEO
In her keynote talk, Funke Opeke, the Chief Executive Officer of Main One, a company that operates connectivity and data centres all across Nigeria, suggested that the government of Nigeria adopt a protectionist position in order to encourage the expansion of the country’s private sector. Opeke added that the government has to develop a framework that will enable Nigerian startups to “grow in the light of global competition.” He referred to the ways in which other countries safeguarded specialised industries.
“Protections are also critical for national security and economic stability in an increasingly cyber-enabled world; therefore, local technology domiciliation is important. When databases of critical importance to Nigeria’s citizens, such as voter information and government accounts, are hosted offshore, our country faces inherent risks. We are simply sending too much of our proprietary information, skills, and startup venture economy abroad, and we need to do more to retain our data here,” she stated.
Nigeria and emerging technologies
The topic that was discussed during the first day was how Nigeria might make use of developing technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain technology in order to continue to build on the progress that the Honourable Minister referred to in his speech. All of the speakers discussed how Nigerian sectors may benefit from the transformation and innovation that could be brought about by the application of emerging technology by Nigerian startups.
Emerging technology companies were encouraged by Kola Aina, managing partner of Ventures Platform, a venture capital firm based in Nigeria, during a fireside conversation to seek solutions that are applicable to issues that are prevalent on the continent. He went on to say that these new businesses tend to use emerging technologies to develop “cosmetic” solutions, which may or may not be applicable to Nigeria’s market. Instead, they employ these technologies to provide the impression that their firms are promising.
Oswald Osaretin Guobadia, a former consultant to the government on technology and the managing partner of DigitA, stated during another panel session that the government has not yet implemented some of the rules that were designed to assist in improving the adoption of emerging technologies. These policies were created to help improve the adoption of new technologies. He used the Nigeria Startup Act as an example, which he said was not yet fully enforced across the country, and he stated that enhanced enforcement may assist in accelerating Nigeria’s developing technological ecosystem.
