In a recent announcement by the newly appointed Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, he has revealed that the Federal Government has secured about half a billion dollars to initiate a local funding programme.
Speaking about the initiative during a dinner organized by friends, Tijani said it is aimed at boosting innovation and entrepreneurship within the country’s digital sector.
“We’ve got access to about half a billion dollars to start local funding,” he said. While outlining the government’s plan to domicile local funding in Nigeria and ensure that it benefits true Nigerian businesses, he added that the ministry would be collaborating with the Bank of Industry (BOI).
The minister highlighted the importance of supporting and promoting Nigerian businesses, noting: “We want to ensure that those businesses that will benefit are true, real Nigerian businesses.”
Additionally, he noted that by domiciling the funding locally, the government was determined to foster the growth of homegrown enterprises, ultimately contributing to the country’s economic progress.
In furtherance, Tijani gave the assurance that the initial half a billion dollars announced for local funding was the beginning, stressing that efforts were on to bring in more investors on board and increase the funds to support Nigerian innovators.
Also, he further stressed that the government’s goal was to leverage the money to attract additional investment and expand resources for local entrepreneurs.
“Part of my responsibilities is working with the BOI to ensure that we domicile that funding locally in Nigeria, work with firms who manage and invest in businesses to ensure that those businesses that will benefit are true, real Nigerian businesses
“And what we are going to see is that the funding is available locally and in the coming months it is going to become larger and as these funds become larger, we want to leverage that money as well.
“So, the government is not just going to put half a billion and that’s it; it can actually bring more investors to heart. As we have more money, more of our innovators can have access to resources,” Tijani added.
Meanwhile, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, while fielding questions during the occasion, reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to tackling the menace of poverty, improving lives and creating job opportunities for the country’s youths.
Chaudhuri emphasised the potential of leveraging digital technologies to drive transformation and outlined two key areas of partnership with Nigeria to achieve these goals.
Chaudhuri further highlighted the importance of a digital national ID as the foundation for digital transformation, adding that the World Bank was collaborating with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure the successful rollout and registration of national IDs for all Nigerians.
According to him, the target is to provide at least 148 million people of working age with a digital national ID by the middle of next year, marking a significant step towards inclusion and accessibility.
“Our main mission here in Nigeria is to eliminate poverty, make lives better and create jobs for all Nigerian youths. One of the areas that we think have the greatest potential is the area of using digital technologies to transform. To do that begins with having this digital national ID.
On a final note, he buttressed; “One of the main partnerships we have is working with NIMC to ensure the rollout of the registration so that all 213/220 million Nigerians have a digital national ID, beginning of course with all people of working age and I think the target for that is at least 148 million people by the middle of next year.”
