The Nigerian Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani has expressed optimism that in the next four years, Nigeria will become the next exporter of technological talents in the world.
He stated this while speaking at “The Platform’s” Independence Anniversary event held in Lagos, South-West, Nigeria tagged “Africa, Rising Continent –Nigeria’s Strategic Role.“
Dr Tijani believes the country’s youth are its biggest asset, saying with the right support they can reshape the world.
He described Africa as the future of technology.
According to Tijani, Africa has a huge youth population with Nigeria having the bulk of that number – many of them tech-savvy
He said: “If Nigeria as a nation will leapfrog our economic development and drive prosperity, we must build the core knowledge that is required.
”Over the next four years, we want Nigeria not only to have a strong pool of technical talents locally but to become the next exporter of technological talents as well.
”We have done it in the private sector, 10 years, 14 years ago, Nigeria wasn’t a key player, but today, our technical people are all over the place, especially in the start-up world.
”And the reality is that technology is embedded in everything we do today, if you look around you, each one of us carries or uses an average of 10 connected devices, from your watch to your phone, to your TV. Beyond that, we use a lot of technical platforms as well.
“The world is going to need technical talents to continue to build those solutions. Historically, we get these technical talents from the West, but unfortunately for the West, the population is declining, while it is declining, it is also ageing as well.
”So, we are the future. We are a continent of 1.2 billion people. 40 per cent of those are young people under the age of 25. In Nigeria, 60 per cent of about 220 million people are under the age of 25, which means we have the ingredients that are going to power the world because these young people are digital natives and if we give them the right resources, they can become that engine the world requires to thrive,“ he affirmed.
The Minister while speaking on the country’s human capital said: “There is no top academic institution in the world that you don’t see a Nigerian.“
He commented on Nigerians for their drive to make an impact wherever they are “Most Nigerians are always restless no matter how much they have achieved. They always want to contribute.”
