By Oluwatobi Opusunju and Chinedu James
With over $68 billion already attracted as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the technology sector, Nigeria is targeting more investors into its IT and entertainment sectors.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is currently on a public-private sector collaborative investment road show to the Silicon Valley in San Francisco and Hollywood in Los Angeles, California USA to showcase growth of Nigeria’s tech and entertainment sectors, and open up investment opportunities here in Nigeria to global tech players.
On his first day of visit, Osinbajo who is leading members of the recently inaugurated Advisory Group on Technology and Creativity, a sub-unit of the National Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council on the roadshow opened talks with Google and LinkedIn to present Nigeria as an investment destination.
“VP @ProfOsinbajo , was welcomed to the Google headquarters by CEO @sundarpichai who led a team of executives in a meeting with the VP and other officials. He was also hosted in a series of investment forums in Silicon Valley where he interacted with key US technology firms,” a tweet from the Presidency reads.
“I am in the USA, leading a Public-Private sector collaborative investment road show. Today, I was received by senior executives of Google led by its CEO, Sundar Pichai, at the firm’s Headquarters.In addition, I have met with groups of key tech investors here in Silicon Valley and will be speaking tonight at an interactive session at the LinkedIn headquarters,” Osinbajo noted in another tweet.
With over $68 billion pulled in already as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the sector, the VP’s visit is expected to increase it and usher in a major development in the country’s technology sector as well as promote a digital economy ecosystem.
Welcoming, the Vice President and the delegates to the Google Headquarters in Silicon Valley, SundarPichai, Google’s CEO wrote: “Happy to welcome the Vice President of Nigeria @ProfOsinbajo to the Googleplex today – great to chat with him about the opportunities of Nigeria’s digital economy.”
The Nigerian delegation includes Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okey Enelamah and the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Affairs, Dr Adeyem iDipeolu.
Others are Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, senior government officials from the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Ease of Doing Business Secretariat among others.