Vice President Kashim Shettima on Tuesday reassured Nigerians that the government’s reforms across sectors and especially the technology ecosystem was yielding significant impact and reposing the confidence of investors.
Shettima said this at the opening ceremony of the Digital Nigeria International Conference and Exhibition (DNICE 2025) organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in Abuja.
The three-day event had its theme as “Innovation for a Sustainable Digital Future: Accelerating Growth, Inclusion, and Global Competitiveness.”
“The uncertainties of the global economy, shocks, shifting alliances and the rapid displacement of traditional jobs by emerging technologies have compelled us to act boldly.
“Our economic reforms are stabilising the sector, and I am proud to share that these reforms have inspired investor confidence.
“The world is taking note of our steady progress and this is our motivation to stay on course because digital innovation offers us a highway to reach our destination,” he said.
According to him, digital innovation is a sustainable and inclusive answer to our quest for relevance, opportunity and transformation.
The VP further said the government was ensuring that the gains of economic development trickled down to the common man.
“If we must move beyond the quick means of simple application of technology to building deep tech solutions that address foundational challenges.
“This is such areas as agriculture, health, logistics and governance, we must set our priorities right, build a digital approach that works seamlessly across the country,” he said.
Shettima said the government’s strategy to reshape the country was anchored on developing people, infrastructure development and strong policy frameworks.
“The success of our cashless reforms has positioned Nigeria as one of the most dynamic fin tech ecosystems in the world and now we are opening the next frontier.
“We are in the advanced stage of passing the National Digital Economy and e-governance bill into law.
“This new bill will unlock the era of smarter governance, greater transparency and inclusive service delivery,” he said.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, said Nigeria had the highest number of unicorns in Africa worth over one billion dollars.
Tijani said that they had continued to attract investments that deliver jobs, products and innovation that drive national growth.
He said Nigeria was leading a World Bank-sponsored project to deploy 90,000 kilometres of open-access fibre, developing world’s largest, alongside plans to install 4,000 telecom towers to connect 20 million unserved Nigerians.
Director-General of NITDA, Malam Kashifu Inuwa, said with a population of over 220 million and average age of 18 years, it was imperative for Nigeria to harness the creativity of the youth.
“If we harness the energy, the creativity and talent of our youth, we are not just going to power Nigeria, but we can power the entire Africa into new era of prosperity.
“If we fail to do that and provide a platform for our youth to create value, we are squandering the most valuable and precious asset we have as a nation.
“The answer to this challenge is our collective ambition to bring these youths together, engage them, provide a platform for them to showcase their creativity and their talents,” he said.
The conference, he said, was being attended by no fewer than 4,800 participants from 12 countries and from 25 states across the country.
