The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has assured that with the signing of the Start-up Bill 2022 into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council chaired by the President will put an end to the nationwide harassment of innovative youths carrying laptop computers.
Briefing correspondents after the signing ceremony at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday, he said rather than the Minister lobbying law enforcement agencies to stop the act, the chairman of the council only needs to give a directive and it will be obeyed by those who misconstrue them for internet fraudsters.
Recall that many young Nigerians have complained about being harassed by security personnel for bearing laptop computers and branded internet fraudsters.
A situation, which among others, led to the recent EndSARS protest against police harassment.
Pantami revealed that the government has set up a N10 billion Investment Fund for young innovators along with provision for incentives and tax holidays to encourage local innovators.
He said in recognition of the efforts of the Nigeria government in the Information Communication Technology (ICT), Microsoft has decided to train about five million Nigerians on high demands skills geared towards job creation.
Speaking on the Gitex event he just attended, he explained: “There were many participants from Europe, Asia and from all the developed countries and we defeated them, and they (innovators) came from Nigeria, this is a successful story.
“Secondly, some of the young individuals we took from Nigeria, federal government sponsored eight of them. Then the organizers also sponsored four, and Lagos State government sponsored 15. Among some of them that I met, the first day of the event, a company signed an MOU with them to invest $20 million in that startup.
“Thirdly, it is there during the event that we concluded our discussion with Microsoft that they will come to Nigeria and train 5 million citizens on high demand and cutting edge skill in the digital sector. 5 million Nigerians and this is one of their corporate social responsibilities.
“Even today, before I came here, I signed a letter conveyed to Microsoft the proposed date for the commencement of the training. So for you to get that opportunity for 5 million Nigerians to train.
“I know those basic digital skills are in high demand. They partook in an investigation evaluation, they discovered areas where there were opportunities globally. So, the forecast where there is job before that, our citizens will be trained in this area. These are only few of the major achievements in addition to many more.
“At the international level, our modest effort in Nigeria in the digital economy sector was appreciated. I had a parliament with the ministers and other high government officials all over the world. I was called upon and I was presented an award without any prior knowledge about it. And there and then, they commended the effort of Nigeria in the digital economic sector.”
Speaking further on signing of the bill, Pantami stated: “Mr. President has assented to the bill, and also conveyed to the relevant institutions of government for gazzeting today and we are all excited, knowing the benefits that our economy is going to generate from the bill.
“If I’m permitted to comment further on it, this bill is an Executive Bill, meaning the federal government of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari, initiated the bill through the collaboration of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, on one hand, and the Office of the Chief of Staff to Mr. President on the order.
“These two offices coordinated and established the foundation for the Nigeria Start-up Act, 2022 and the approach we adopted was to allow our young start-ups, our young innovators all over the country, to identify the challenges they were being confronted with, when it comes to intellectual property, financing, regulation, incentive among many others. That is the organic approach, meaning bottom-up approach.
“So, young innovators who are engaged in each and every geopolitical zone of Nigeria, where we engaged them to voice out their challenges when it comes to enabling environment for business. From their imput, we discovered there was a need to have Nigeria Start-up Act in place so that the Act will provide the enabling environment for them to continue to thrive and be successful.”
Noting the remarkable contribution of the digital sector to the economy, Pantami observed that Nigeria is blessed with young innovators that are making the nation proud.
He added: “With the government policies we have in place, before assenting to the bill today, a lot has been achieved when it comes to providing the enabling environment for our young innovators.
“This law is all about to consolidate and to provide the legal and strategic framework for the growth of the sector. For example, today in Africa, we have around seven unicorns, five of them originated from Nigeria.
“On behalf of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, three months ago, I was with them and I visited the unicorns to have an engagement with them so that we will hear from them their challenges and all these issues were accommodated in the bill.
“Unicorn is an ICT company, a local ICT company that has a market value of a minimum of 1 billion USD and all these. Five of them attained this position of unicorn during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“So, it is because of this we engaged them, we identified their challenges and we came up with this Nigeria Start-up Bill, with the intention of providing the legal framework so that the sector will continue to grow and be successful.”
On the initiatives of the Start-up Act, 2022, he noted: “First, there is going to be a Presidential Council, which has been entitled as National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council. Digital innovation and digital entrepreneurship are the two prerequisites to Digital Economy. Digital Economy has two pillars; pillar number one is Digital Innovation. Pillar number two is Digital Entrepreneurship.
:So, these are the two prerequisites to building an indigenous digital economy. So, there is going to be a council and this council is going to be chaired by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the vice chair is going to be the Vice President of Nigeria and the Minister in charge of Communications and Digital Economy will preside over the council in the absence of President and the Vice President and all the institutions that have a role to play in providing the enabling environment for our young start-ups and our young innovators are members of that council; the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, among many others. Also, all the institutions dealing with tax collection incentives are members of this council.”
Pantami remarked that the ICT contributed 18.42 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP this year alone, while the entire contribution of Communication and Digital Economy was 40 per cent.
He explained that the new Act was an Executive Bill initiated by President Buhari through the collaboration of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy and the Office of the Chief of Staff to the president.
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Start-up Act: Buhari-led council to end harassment of youth with laptops ― Pantami
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