The federal government and stakeholders in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector have assured local tech startups of technical and funding support to scale globally.
The experts, who spoke on the sidelines of the just concluded GITEX Nigeria Tech Expo and Future Economy Conference in Lagos, said that while startups in Nigeria don’t have the necessary infrastructural and funding support like their counterparts in developed economies, their resilience has taken Nigeria to the global stage, making the country the emerging hub of technology.
For his part, the minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, noted that ICT already contributes between 16 and 18 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP) and described it as Nigeria’s fastest-growing sector.
“The digital economy is not just about apps. It is about productivity gains that will transform agriculture, education, manufacturing, and governance. Under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda, technology must grow GDP and expand opportunities, reduce inequality, and create shared prosperity for all Nigerians,” Tijani pointed out.
The minister unveiled several federal initiatives to support this growth, including Project Bridge, a 90,000km fibre backbone to connect all states and local governments; the 3MTT programme, expected to become the world’s largest digital skills initiative; and the forthcoming National Digital Economy and New Governance Bill to strengthen trust, security, and accountability in the digital space.
Moreover, the executive vice chairman/CEO of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Khalil Suleiman Halilu, said, innovation has become central “in how we build our technology in Nigeria. Mostly, innovation is about taking ideas from inception to the end. In Nigeria, we have many talented friends who have ideas.”
Highlighting the challenges confronting most startups, he said, the issue most of them are facing is where to go and demonstrate that the idea can solve a problem. “So with the Innovate Naija Challenge like this, we will have a national programme to challenge these young guys with ideas. And also, we have a friend group like AfriLabs to help them incubate and shape ideas and launch their own ideas,” he noted.
The Innovate Naija Challenge, he said, is designed to spark nationwide excitement and online engagement by identifying, empowering, and supporting innovative youths across Nigeria, where they have a chance to win N100 million.
Through creative video submissions, participants will showcase their inventions or ideas for a chance to receive funding. Thirty-seven winners were selected from across the country. The challenge aims to ignite creativity and generate vibrant energy within Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem, using social media to create a dynamic, high-energy movement that celebrates local talent and ingenuity.
“So, doing that will help them to take that idea from just an ideation phase to a phase where they can solve a national problem and make an impact, while the plan can help them commercialise.
“There is a difference between invention and innovation. Invention is about making money. But innovation will help you commercialise and take your invention to a stage where other people will come and pay for it. So, I see this as a move that can help Nigeria solve our global problem using our local talent and lead to developing technologies that we can export to the world,” he pointed out.
Similarly, the director general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi, urged startups to look at innovation that solves real problems, not just fancy things, but things that solve daily problems for the average Nigerian and can hence also scale at an African level.
While applauding President Bola Tinubu’s administration for giving youths many opportunities, he charged other partners, especially the governors, to support innovations coming from the various States of the federation so that they can scale, not just nationally but at the African level.
For his part, the minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, said his ministry is leveraging partnerships and collaboration from the private sector and government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure that it creates opportunities for talented youth to take advantage of.
“We want the youths to create jobs for others by bringing their innovative ideas into action. We will support such ideas and give them the necessary support to excel. Nigerian youths have brains. We have energy. We have youths that a larger percentage of them are innovators. So our door is open to everyone with innovative ideas. We want to partner with everybody who knows they have something to offer,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, the regional director for Central Africa and Anglophone West Africa, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Dahlia Khalifa, has restated IFC’s commitment to Africa’s digital transformation, revealing that it has invested more than $6 billion in the continent’s digital infrastructure in the last decade.
Khalifa said the organisation is scaling up efforts to strengthen broadband access, fibre connectivity, and modern data centres to position Africa as a globally competitive digital hub. “Infrastructure is the foundation, but entrepreneurship is the engine. We need reliable broadband, robust data centres, and modern digital infrastructure to seize this opportunity. IFC is helping to unlock this future by mobilising capital at scale,” Khalifa added.
She disclosed that in 2024 alone, IFC invested more than $1 billion in connectivity projects, including $100 million for Raxio Group’s data centres and funding for WIOCC’s fibre expansion across Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa. In Lagos, IFC-backed Rack Centre is already setting new benchmarks for green, sustainable data facilities.
Speaking on behalf of AfriLabs which is the largest network of pan-African technology and innovation hubs in the world, and a Private Sector Partner for the partner to GITEX Nigeria Tech Expo, senior Ecosystem Engagement manager at AfriLabs, Jennifer Okeke-Odudu said, her firm is in partnership with NASENI on the Innovate Naija Challenge.
“So, our partnership is running. We are the private sector partners that will be running the partnership alongside NASENI. We will be running the challenge. We will be going as industry experts and ecosystem experts and make sure that we pick the best of the best. We are excited to launch this, and we are hoping that Nigerian youths will come out to participate.
If you have a cousin, sister, friend, or brother who you know has those brilliant ideas, push them to come forward. And we also need state governments to back those young people because they will represent your state. We also need states to vote for their young people to get them the N100 million prize. That is such a huge investment that doesn’t come by easily, as we all know. Young people need to get on social media and get on the website. Put in your ideas. You need to be involved in this,” she pointed out.
GITEX Nigeria was the definitive platform connecting global tech leaders with the vast opportunities of Nigeria’s dynamic digital economy.
