Nigeria, others move from resources to knowledge, innovation based economy
Indication has emerged that Nigeria and other countries in the continent of Africa are now moving from a resource-based economy to knowledge-based, innovation driven economy.
This is the kennel of the chat, the Executive Vice Chairman, Verdant Zeal Group, Mr Otunji Olugbodi had with the Daily Times at an aside during the recent Innovation Series 2017 with the theme “How Technology is driving Africa’s new narrative” held Civic Centre in Lagos.
Olugbodi said that internet penetration in Africa has been gathering momentum over the decade as the continent seeks to close the gap on ICT with western climes, stressing that Nigeria is expected to be among the top 10 Internet using countries in the world by 2018.
He cited the statistics updated in June 2015 to buttress how a lot of African countries have embraced technology as a driver of development, adding that Africa has 28.6 percent Internet penetration with Nigeria having 11.3 percent of the total penetration in Africa.
According to him, Nigeria is now a big player in the African market and this has impacted on the youths as more of them above average are exposed to the Internet, sharing ideas, content and commercial opportunities seamlessly across the globe despite government red tape bureaucracy.
He lamented, however, that amidst the giant strides in technology a large demography of young people, mostly women in the rural and semi urban areas live below the poverty line and are unable to tap into this new economy.
Executive Vice Chairman, Verdant Zeal Group revealed that the Innovation series has set out to address this by proffering pragmatic ways of helping the African young, yet vulnerable population gain the requisite skills to lift themselves out of poverty and participate in the global economy now dictated by technology.
He affirmed that the SMEs who are key to Africa’s growth also need to efficiently harness the power of technology to make a quantum leap so that they can contribute to helping Nigeria and Africa in general develop on a continental scale.
