The Nigerian Government is seeking collaboration of the World Bank, Google and Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (Space X) on the implementation of its National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS).
Pursuant to this, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, had meetings at Space X headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and at the World Bank headquarters and another meeting with Google Corporation to strengthen partnerships for the development of Nigeria’s digital economy.
Pantami was received at Space X by Samuel (Chad) Gibbs IV, the Vice President of Business Operations, on behalf of Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Space X.
During the visit, both parties discussed how Space X could expand its presence in Nigeria, following their entry into the Nigerian market through the Starlink broadband service.
He asked the Space X team to consider sourcing some of its engineers from Nigeria’s digital talent pool.
The minister and his team toured the SpaceX Rocket Manufacturing Facility, Starlink Assembly Line, and Product Development Facility. He witnessed the live Space X rocket launch of two telecom satellites into orbit.
Digitising Government
On the invitation of the World Bank Group, the minister also had a meeting with top officials of the global bank, including Vyjayanti Desai, the Practice Manager for the World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) and Digitising Government to Person Payments (G2Px) Programmes.
Also at the meeting were Director of Infrastructure, World Bank West African Region, Franz Drees-Gross, and World Bank’s Digital Development Practice Manager for Africa and the Middle East, Michel Rogy.
The World Bank team commended Pantami for his leadership, which has led to significant development in Nigeria’s digital economy sector.
The meeting also discussed how the Bank could further partner Nigeria to strengthen the digital economy ecosystem in areas such as infrastructure, skilling, cybersecurity, and digital identity.
The minister also had a meeting with Vice-President, Government Affairs, and Public Policy at Google, Karan Bhatia. Mr. Bhatia was full of praise for the minister for the significant progress that has been made in the digital transformation of the economy.
He also commended the minister for Nigeria Startup Act, noting the potential of the legislation to serve as a catalyst for rapid development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. The Google Vice-President discussed the company’s growing focus on Africa and looks forward to expanding partnerships with Nigeria in areas such as skilling, cyber security, and cloud computing, among others.
The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, under Pantami, remains committed to implementing NDEPS in order to ensure that Nigeria’s digital economy remains a leading light, both in Africa and across the globe.
The meetings were held on the sidelines of the US-Africa Leaders’ Forum (USALF), which took place in Washington DC, US, while the visit to Space X was a follow up to the events at the USALF.
NP/Lateefah Ibrahim
