Nigeria’s federal government on Wednesday inaugurated an implementation committee for the Nigeria Startup Act (NSA).
This move, aimed at building the country’s innovative ecosystem followed the passage of the Act by the country’s president, Muhammadu Buhari late last year.
Speaking during the inauguration in Abuja, Prof. Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami said that the efforts aim to position the Nigerian startup ecosystem as the leading digital hub in Africa.
It also intends to foster the development of technology-related talents in the country.
Today, there is the focus on knowledge-based economy rather than resource-based economy.
“The Gross Domestic Products of countries like the UK,the US and China,India are rising because they invested in their startups.
“Today, digital entrepreneurship,digital innovation and knowledge are building the global economy and we need to invest in our youths that have the innovative ideas.
“The implementation of the Act is an attempt to turn things,make us a producer,an exporter of ICT products rather than importer,” Pantami said.
Members of the committee drawn from the private sector, the academia, and government agencies is headed by Prof. Salahu Junaidu, a Professor of Computer Science at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and Co-Chaired by Mr. Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu.
