Nigerian Senate calls for more awareness on Startup Act

Nigeria’s  Senate Committee Chairman on on ICT and Cyber Security, Senator Oseni Yakubu has urged the Nigerian government to create more awareness on the recently enacted startup Act, to enable young people in the country know the benefits  and opportunities that abound with the Act.

He gave the charge at the opening ceremony of Digital Nigeria Conference 2022, organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in Abuja with the with the theme, Digital Transformation; a pathway to sustainable Digital Economy.

Senator Yakubu said the Act, which directly targets the youth, had great opportunities and benefits.

He noted that there is a need for collaboration with the ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and other stakeholders to create more awareness.

He said: “The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy should create more awareness on the Startup Act for Nigerian youth to know the benefits and opportunities that abound in it. We are going to collaborate with the ministry to create this awareness and I have been doing my little bit to create awareness on the potential of the bill. I trust Nigerian youth will key into the Act because they are intelligent, as well as contribute their quota to the Gross Domestic Product and place Nigeria in the ICT world map,” he assured.

He further said that on the signing of the bill into law, the government decided that a total of five billion naira would be used as a starting grant.

According to him, “it means that there are other funds we are expecting in the sector from other sources so that we can have something to fall back to”.

Yakubu recalled the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the government with Microsoft to train five million Nigerians on digital skills adding that the training would greatly impact the country’s economy.