Invest in ICT to address revenue shortfall, Osinbajo tells Governors

Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the ongoing induction programme for returning and newly elected governors of the various states, Osinbajo said that the Federal Government had in the past few years, leveraged the digital economy to record an increase in broadband coverage nationwide “From 33.7 per cent in 2019 to 100 per cent in 2022.

The newly elected governors are Alex Otti of Abia State; Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State; Hyacinth Alia of Benue State; Bassey Otu of Cross River State; Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State; Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State; Peter Mbah of Enugu State; Umar Namadi of Jigawa and Uba Sani of Kaduna State.

Others are Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State; Dikko Umar Radda, Katsina; Nasiru Idris of Kebbi; Mohammed Umar Bago of Niger State; Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State; Siminialayi Fubara of Rivers; Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto; Kefas Agbu of Taraba and Dauda Lawal of Zamfara.

The re- elected Governors are Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State; Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State; Babagana Zulum of Borno State; Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe; Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State; Babajide Sanwo- Olu of Lagos State; Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State; Seyi Makinde of Oto State and Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State.

The Vice President who was represented at the event by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, “This was achieved by the deployment of Starlink Internet Services across the country, which has helped bridge the existing internet connectivity gap across rural communities in Nigeria, where other network operators could not deploy their services. I encourage you as new governors to prioritize this and make it one of your achievements in the first 100 days of your administration. The multiplier effect on the economy is unimaginable.

“Of the total N21.04 trillion real Gross Domestic Product figure, the ICT sector contributed 16.22 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022 up from 14.07 per cent in the first quarter of 2020. 4G penetrations across the country have also increased from 23 per cent in 2019 to 80.86 per cent and this has been attributed to the increase in the number of users of the 4G technology in most states in the country.

The Vice President who urged the newly elected governors to feel free to visit his office to learn a thing or two about the Central Delivery Coordination Unit established last year, said, “In a bid to strengthen the culture of performance management and sustain the enormous gains achieved, the Federal Government issued Executive Order No 013 of 2022, to institutionalize the Central Delivery and Coordination Unit.

“It will be a great honour to welcome members of your team to my Office where the CDCU is located, for a study visit, to receive first-hand information on how this great initiative can be replicated in your states. There is nothing more gratifying than having verifiable evidence to show at the end of your tenure, how you have delivered on your mandate and the delivery unit will be your most reliable vehicle towards achieving that goal.”

Speaking further, Osinbajo who asked the Governors to focus their attention on giving opportunities to the youths in their respective States and Local Governments, said that with the right incentives, the youth population can help contribute significantly to the growth of the sub-nationals, adding, “It is imperative to unleash the potentials that lie in our youths. It is no longer news that over 75 per cent of our population is under the age of 35. More decisive actions are needed to turn this demographic asset into an economic dividend.

” A young, productive, youthful population, with access to education, skills, social protection, affordable housing, and medical care, will power Nigeria’s economy, now and well into the future,” he said even as he urged them to do away with programmes that have little or nothing to do with wealth creation.

“We must move away from so-called youth empowerment programmes. The youths do not need handouts. They need investments that will propel them to wealth creators.

“One of the industries that will dominate the future is FinTech. Nigeria’s FinTech is surging as one of the leaders in Africa today. International Firms like Google see the demographic and mobile tech growth and how this will rapidly change the future of e-commerce, trade, health, and finance and are willing to bring their resources given the potential returns. Subnational governments must invest in this sector if they are to match up with current and future trends.

“A Nigeria that is resurgent economically must also be a Nigeria that is more at peace with itself and more secure. Today, more than ever, several states are spending a considerable share of their budgets on security, displacing the resources that are needed for development. This trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future if nothing is done to drastically reverse it. The amount of investable territory available in Nigeria is decreasing as a direct result of the country’s high incidence of violent conflict and we need all the investments we can muscle in to bridge the revenue gap that is currently biting us all and very hard at that.”