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Why Nigerians Are Shining Light In The Tech World

It is not all about gloom and doom as far as Nigerians and Nigeria are concerned. Although, some Nigerians use ICT for negative things, there are still thousands of Nigerians both within and outside the country that are exceptional in the Tech World. There are many exciting stories coming out of Africa's most populous nation based on technological innovations and businesses. These Nigerians are the shining light in the Tech World.

The past and present contributions of Nigerians to technological advancement can not be underscored. A good number of Nigerians are globally recognised as major drivers in the Tech World.

1. Nigerians in the private sector

The future looks bright for the Nigerian Tech Space. There are large numbers of Nigerians, who have independently established themselves in the Tech business. Some of these Nigerians are entrepreneurs, while others are into partnership.

There are different aspects of the Tech business that many Nigerians have carved a niche for themselves. Some of these Tech businesses are worth millions of dollars.

Nigerians are major players in Tech World
Nigerians are major players in the Tech World


MainOne is one of the main players in Nigeria when it comes to providing internet services to large firms and companies. The chief executive officer (CEO) of MainOne is Funke Opeke. A few days ago, a United States data-centre company named 'Equinix' acquired MainOne in a deal worth $320 million. This high monetary deal indicates that Funke Opeke has placed MainOne on the Global Tech Map, before its acquisition.
The examples of high monetary value Tech businesses being managed by private and young Nigerians are numerous. Funke Opeke's MainOne is one among the rest.

2. Nigerians who are government appointees

The challenges of bottle necks and bureaucracy affect the performance of government appointees. There are many Tech-savvy persons working as government appointees currently. For the sake of this article, two of them will be mentioned.

Firstly, there is 55-year-old Jelani Aliyu. Aliyu is presently the director general of the Nigerian Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC). Aliyu used to live in the United States before his appointment in 2017 by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The DG of NADDC, who is an automotive designer, is famously known for designing Chevrolet Volt vehicle brand.

The second person is Ibrahim Pantami, current Minister of Communications and Digital Economy. The communications minister has years of local and international experience in different areas of computing. He is also a seasoned IT expert.

3. Nigerians in diaspora

A good number of Nigerians outside the shores of the country are painting the name of Nigeria in gold. There are two examples that will be highlighted below.

One of the prominent names of Nigerians in the Tech World is Emeka Emeagwali. The Nigerian born computer scientist is a global phenomenon. The Nigerian Tech wizard born on August 23, 1954 as captured by maths.buffalo.edu "designed the program and formula for the fastest computer on earth, the Connection Machine." As of December 2017, Emeagwali was globally recognised and reported by blackpast.org for "utilising the connection machine and 65,536 microprocessors to achieve 3.1 billion calculations per second, the fastest computational record at the time."

Another Nigerian, who has written the name of Nigeria in the world of Artificial intelligence and Robotics is 27-year-old Silas Adekunle. Adekunle, who currently lives in the United Kingdom developed the world's first gaming robot. One of the companies established by Adekunle is 'Awari.' Awari is into ensuring the knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics is spread across Africa.

4. Need for strong public-private partnership to further boost Tech business

A mutualistic relationship between the public and private sectors is germane to projecting Nigerians and Nigeria among the top players in the Global Tech Space. There should be more media coverage and publicity on what have been achieved by Nigerians in the Tech World. Also, the government and ICT stakeholders should encourage young Tech entrepreneurs and students, who are interested in going into different aspects of ICT.

It is a known fact that the highest money is made by Tech gurus. For instance, professional website designers, Apps developers, Robotics engineers, Data scientists, among other Tech experts are among the highest income earners in most societies.

Oladele Hakeem Olaniyan , who wrote this article lives in Nigeria.

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