By Ken Afor
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr. Bosun Tijani, is optimistic that the country’s youth can impact the world if the right opportunities and resources are provided for them.
He made this known on Monday while speaking at the Platform event held in Lagos.
While Africa boasts of its huge youth population and the world continues to embrace technology, the minister said one would find more Nigerian tech experts in the continent.
“If you have a second passport and you live in another country, you would find probably ten software engineers in Lagos before you find one in the UK in your cycle. Or if you are in the US, before you find one software engineer there, you would find ten in Lagos, or in Nairobi, or in Jo’burg. That’s the reality,” he said during the event tagged ‘Africa Rising Continent – Nigeria’s Strategic Role’.
Reasserting his belief in the future of the Nigerian youth, Tijani, co-founder and chief executive officer of Co-creation Hub (CcHUB), said the young people are more exposed to technology and they want to contribute no matter the level of their achievement.
He added that, “We are the future. And you know why we are the future here? We are a continent of 1.2 billion and forty per cent of those are young people – across Africa – I believe under the age of 25. And this is where Nigeria is important. It is not just that we show off for the sake of showing off.
“In Nigeria, it is 60 percent of our 220 million people who are under the age of 25 which means we have the ingredient that is actually going to power the world because these young people are digital natives. And if we give them the resources, they can actually become that engine that the world requires to be able to strive.
“Most Nigerians are always restless no matter how much they have achieved. They always want to contribute.”
It would be recalled that in 2019, under his leadership, CcHUB acquired Kenya’s iHub and launched the CcHUB Design Lab in Kigali, Rwanda in the same year.
He is also a visiting adjunct professor at the Wits School of Governance in Johannesburg, South Africa.
