A Nigerian representative at the recent Best Diplomatic Conference in the United Kingdom (UK), Amb.Fashina Olaoluwa Damilare, has said that in recent years, Nigeria has made significant strides in ensuring fairness and inclusivity in technological advancements.
According to Olaoluwa, these achievements serve “as a cheerleading force in championing the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 on the African continent”, pointing out that “it is of gain-say to unequivocally state that the works being put into the SDG 10, have by miles paid-off and continue to yield impressive results”.
He said looking at the financial technology sector popularly known as FinTech, “Nigeria is now a leading hub on the African Continent, as innovations continue to steer on, creating a fair ground for all genders, most especially enhancing female meteoric rise in the country’s tech space”.
Speaking about Nigeria’s impressive impact towards achieving fair and inclusive technological space, which bridges the digital divide, Amb. Olaoluwa stated that a McKinsey report released in 2022 projected Africa financial services market to grow by a record 10 per cent per annum, reaching a revenue mile of $230 billion by 2025.
He stated that given the status of this report, “it is noteworthy to state that Nigeria controls one third of Africa’s FinTech market, and this is evident in the financial solutions coming into play from Nigeria”.
Damilare further stated: “One of the numerous ways we have achieved fairness and inclusivity could be seen in the tremendous successes gained by ensuring that every Nigerian has an easy access to information and communication technology; introduction of technological skill acquisition programmes; sharing and distribution of computers to schools and students in public institutions; collaborations between government agencies and technological corporations like Google, Microsoft, Andela, Cchub and many more”.
He said that Nigeria’s technological space has had its wheels steered by capable and visionary leadership, who have not only helped but shaped the trajectory of technology in the country.
He cited an example of Dr. Bosun Tijani, the country’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, who have taken up the drive for an all-inclusive digital space to a different level; which, he said, marked to be monumental in such a way that aligns with the SDG 10.
Amb. Damilare stated that the introduction of the three million Technical Talent programme in 2023, aimed at training providers for tech skills, “saw a recorded success of empowering 30,000 Nigerians in its first phase and an additional target pitch of 2,700,000 Technical talents across the country”.
“While all these have been tremendously executed by the government, it is of good cognizance to highlight the gargantuan efforts of the private sector in this success. The likes of Flutterwave, Paystack, Kuda, Opay, PiggyVest, Carbon, Interswitch, Remita, Moniepoint, Credpal, JumiaPay, eTranzact, Palmpay, and many more, have continued to proffer solutions that have not only been adopted by Nigeria but shared to other African countries and the world at large”, Damilare added.
Stating that though the journey so far has not been smooth as merely projected by our numerous successes, “but rather, had been a daunting task that needed to be undertaken for the actualization of a better space and environment”.
According to him, an example of this could be seen in funding, mobilization and integration, talent acquisition, management, sustainable policy formulation and many more.
The ambassador also said that in order to achieve a fair and inclusive technological space, Nigeria has not only closed the gaps, “but we have gone beyond our previous years position by adopting a grassroots approach which has so far paved the way for future innovators, giving both men, women and children a good and comfortable ground to thrive, thus leading to a robust and prosperous economy”.
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