The Nigerian Government has secured access to approximately $500m to initiate a local funding programme to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in the Digital sector.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani said this at a dinner in partnership with the World Bank in Abuja on Friday.
Mr Tijani said the government’s plan to domicile local funding in Nigeria and ensure that it benefits true Nigerian businesses, stressing that “it will be collaborating with the Bank of Industry.”
“So, we’ve got access to about half a billion dollars to start local funding,” he said.
“Part of my responsibilities is working with BOI to ensure that we domicile that funding locally in Nigeria, work with firms who manage and invest in businesses to ensure that those businesses that will benefit are true, real Nigerian businesses.
“And what we are going to see is that the funding is available locally and in the coming months it is going to become larger and as these funds become larger, we want to leverage that money as well,” Mr Tijani stated.
“So, the government is not just going to put half a billion and that’s it, it can actually bring more investors to heart as we have more money more of our innovators can have access to resources,” the Minister added.
