Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says Nigeria remains the best place to
invest, given the population of the country.
In its 2019 state of the world population report, the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) pegged Nigeria’s population at 201 million.
Speaking at an interactive session with foreign policy experts at the
Council on Foreign Relations in New York, US, on Monday, Osinbajo said
the potentials of the country will keep attracting companies and
investors.
According to a statement by Laolu Akande, his media aide, Osinbajo said
the “potential, effort and impact being made by Nigerians in technology
can enable the country roll out indigenous technology solutions that can
transform the global space”.
He said government would leverage the efforts and resourcefulness of the
vast population of youth to actualise potentials in the sector.
“Our potential in technology and entertainment has been attracting huge
attention,” he said.
“First is the market, at 174 million GSM phones, we are among the top
ten telephone users in the world, and we have the highest percentage of
people who use internet on their phones in the world.
“We are also number two in mobile internet banking in the world, and 17
million Nigerians are on Facebook. Microsoft has announced that it will
establish a 100 million dollar African Development Centre in Nigeria.
“Second is the ever-growing number of technology startups, young digital
entrepreneurs who are creating solutions to value chain and logistics
challenges and creating thousands of jobs in the process.
“Andela, a software company training software developers for many
Fortune 500 companies received a $24m dollar investment from Facebook.”
During the session, Osinbajo was asked about Nigeria’s stance on the
issue of 5G rollout.
He said even though Nigeria is yet to roll out 5G, the country will do
so eventually.
“We do not have those complications (comparatively) in taking decisions
in that regard. But, we practically welcome every company that wants to
do business with us in Nigeria. Huawei is in Nigeria and so are all the
other technology companies,” he said.
“We haven’t gone through any kind of decision making for rolling out the
5G technology; as a matter of fact we are going to roll out 5G
ourselves. Talking about the equipment and technology; how did the
Chinese get it? How did anyone else get the technology? We will do it
ourselves.”