By Seyi Babalola
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday declared that his administration would leverage digital technology to create Nigeria’s desired socio-economic progress that is necessary to transform society.
Receiving in audience 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 the upliftment of Nigerians.
“We are here to shape our tomorrow, today, and I’m going to do it. Our youths represent over 65% of the yearning development age in Nigeria. We take education very seriously, and that is the foremost tool we have against poverty. The digital economy and telecommunications represent the future, and we are determined to promote it. Your partnership with us to make it a serious development in our economic programme is what is desirable. Our youths have the skills, they are brilliant, and they are good people,” President Tinubu further stated.
He called on Google to partner with the government on the use of data in the public sector to enhance service delivery.
“We have been evaluating different proposals on database development, and you have critical information that can equally help the poor leverage on the use of data. The authentication of transaction integrity across the country to service over 200 million people is not a joke,” the President posited.
Toward the realization of great progress in the sector, President Tinubu declared that he is bringing more young people into the administration to further drive his transformative efforts and called on Google to ‘come on board’ as a frontline partner in development.
The President stated that the prospective use cases emanating from the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Quantum Computing must be harnessed, even as he emphasized that development is achieved in stages.
“Let me have breakfast before dinner,” the president quipped.
In his own remarks, the Director of Google West Africa, Mr. Olumide Balogun informed President Tinubu that the delegation came to Nigeria to reassure the government that the company is committed to supporting its laudable efforts through the deployment of modern digital technology.
The Google Regional Director told the President that the deployment of data technology enhances the efficiency and productivity of businesses with a commitment that Google will give Nigeria a N1.2 billion grant as well as train 20,000 women and children with requisite skills to establish new digital tech job opportunities, which the economy urgently needs.
