National Assembly says committed to advancing Nigeria’s use of technology – Businessday
BusinessDay
Iheanyi Nwachukwu
October 17, 2023
Dubai|| As many countries leverage technology in advancing their development, Nigeria has again shown readiness not to be left behind.
Adedeji Stanley Olajide, chairman, House of Representatives committee on Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Cybersecurity who spoke to BusinessDay at the ongoing SuperBridge Summit holding in Dubai, United Arab Emirates acknowledged the disparity in the technological world, but said that Nigeria is to legislate policies for good governance, “so that way we can advance technology and actually take a big leap”.
“So we don’t really have to struggle during the process. We can take a big leap. Just like any other technology, Nigeria can get on board.
It’s an emerging market and there’s a lot that we need to be doing there,” he added.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had committed to reset Africa’s biggest economy with one million new tech jobs.
“My administration must create meaningful opportunities for our youth. We shall honour our campaign commitment of one million new jobs in the digital economy,” he had noted.
President Tinubu had declared that his administration would leverage digital technology to create Nigeria’s desired socio-economic progress that is necessary to transform society.
While receiving in audience at the State House, Abuja a delegation from Google (West Africa) led by its director, Olumide Balogun, the President noted that his administration is determined to use education and technology to improve the lives of its citizens, affirming that education is central to uplifting Nigerians.
Olajide, the member representing Ibadan Nortwest/Southwest Federal constituency at the green chamber of Nigeria’s national assembly also noted that in the western world, China has gone far, Japan has also advanced, but Africa is coming behind.
He sees opportunities for Nigeria when the country takes that big leap in advancing use of technology.
“So Artificial Intelligence (AI), why people might be thinking, is it going to take away a lot of jobs. I don’t see that, I see a lot of opportunity.
“If we implement the right in agriculture in health care in education, if we implement the right solutions of Artificial Intelligence in Nigeria, it can actually bring loads and loads of jobs, which I think will be part of the bridging the gap that we’re doing here today,” he further said.
“We have a President that for example, I mentioned, is technology savvy, because if you look at his background coming from Lagos State, Lagos is one of the few states where you have automation of almost all the different agencies in the state.
“Look at where Lagos is today. Almost every single ministry in Lagos State is fully automated. You know, I mean, it was started with a step, but here we are today”.
He noted that technology is going to play a driving factor when it comes to Nigeria’s agriculture, healthcare and education.
Business Day, established in 2001, is a daily business newspaper based in Lagos. It is the only Nigerian newspaper with a bureau in Accra, Ghana. It has both daily and Sunday titles. It circulates in Nigeria and Ghana
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