Minister of Communication and Digital
Econmomy,
Minister of Communication and Digital
Econmomy, Isa Ali Pantami
The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital
Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami). FNCS,
FBCS has charged young innovators to come up with
disruptive technology and crazy ideas that would completely change
the way we live in Nigeria.
He stated this during the presentation of the Young
Innovators tag “Seeds for the Future” by the Managing Director,
Huawei Technologies Nigeria Limited, Mr. Zhang Lulu at the
Ministry’s Headquarters in Abuja.
Addressing the Young Innovators travelling to China, the
Minister urged them to explore emerging technology and come up with
disruptive technology and build applications that will completely
change the way we live and interact with one another.
Pantami reiterated that the expectation of the Federal
Government is for the young innovators to come back from the scheme
to create jobs as digital economy has potential to lift millions of
Nigerians out of poverty.
In his words “as potential digital personality, you must
think about being potential employers. Come up with big ideas as
you become potential employers instead of job seekers. Each and
every one of you should think of employing 50,000 people in a few
years”.
Pantami said “in the next few years most probably one may
not need to travel to India, Egypt, USA or UK for medical attention
or surgery, Surgery can be conducted by using 5G and through
artificial intelligence”.
He urged them to focus more on emerging technologies such
as artificial intelligence, robotic, cloud computing, quantum
computing, mega storages, internet of things, visual reality and
augmented reality.
The Minister thanked the Huawei Technologies for keying-in
to the capacity building of the young innovators in the country and
urged them to focus on the hands-on training and bridge the gap
between the academia and the industry.
The Managing Director, Huawei Technologies Nigeria
Limited, Mr. Zhang Lulu while presenting the students from
different institutions in Nigeria noted that Huawei has been
investing in digital skills in Nigeria and had implemented various
programms in the country.
He said during the young innovators visit to China, they
would be able to attend hands-on trainings at the Huawei’s world
class labs, learn the latest trends happening in the industry and
exchange ideas with the experts from around the world at their
global headquarters in China.
The Young Innovators selected from different Universities
are Ugwu Obinna, University of Ibadan; Udohi Young, Covenant
University; Akingbola Oluwapemisin, Univeristy of Ibadan; Onuora
Chiamaka, University of Lagos; Ihenyen Joy, Igbinedion University
and Fatima Rabiu, Ahmadu Bello University Others are Kolade Joseph,
Cloud Exchange Technical School; David Kemdirim,
University of Port Harcourt; Abdussamad Musa and Abdulrahman Aliyu,
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University.
Bolaji Kazeem