…To protect young innovators from undue harassments
From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami on Wednesday, said that the government has earmarked 10 billion Naira annually in the Nigeria Startup Act to support digital innovators in the country.
Pantami disclosed this when he officially inaugurated the Nigeria Startup Act Implementation Committee (NSAIC) in Abuja.
He stressed that the countries leading economically in the world are those that have made knowledge-based activities, knowledge-based economies, as well as digital innovations and start-ups their primary sources of income. He said that the Act was crucial to promoting digital startups, which will in turn boost the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
The Minister lamented the unwarranted harassments faced by young innovators in the nation who are frequently mistaken for criminals by law enforcement agents and noted that the Act would give them protection as well as legal, technical, and financial support to help them overcome some of their difficulties.
He said: “ In a country like Nigeria, we are blessed with talents. We have innovators, young people that are making us proud. I have been with Nigerian start ups to many global competitions and we always leave with our shoulders high because of the performance of our young innovators. few days ago we were in Riyadh with some of the innovators, there were six global prices, two Nigerians won out of the six and they participated in the event with more than 12,000 people. In the end, Nigeria was the only country with two global winners. This is really encouraging.
“In order to consolidate, and provide legal, technical, and financial backing to all these achievements, having the Nigeria start up Act becomes necessary. It’s implementation also becomes necessary, because we discovered some challenges confronting our innovators in the country. Sometimes it’s in regards to finance. Today in the Act, there is provisions to support them financially. Government will set aside a minimum of 10billion Naira annually in addition to other sources of funding that has been captured in the law.
“Secondly, there is also a leadership where we are going to have the National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship to be chaired by the presidential Nigeria. This is to provide the leadership that is required to address the challenges being confronted by the the e-forces.
“We also have an implementation committee where we brought together relevant stakeholders, some from government, some from the private sector, some from ecosystem, some from academia, some from legal institutions and many more to come together and provide the leadership that is required for the technical implementation of this very important law.
“ In addition to so many initiatives, in a country like Nigeria it is unfortunate that few years ago, before our modest efforts to complain to Mr President, some of our young innovators where unnecessarily being harassed sometimes by other institutions. Whenever they see you caring laptop you will just become a suspect. instead of encouraging you, you are being intimidated. It becomes necessary to deal with the criminals whoever, citizens are always innocent until proven guilty by a court of the law. So all these issues are going to be addressed and they are being addressed by the Nigerian Start up Act 2023”
Some members of the 27-man Committee include
Prof. Sahalu Junaidu- Chairman, Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, Prof. Olayinka David-West, Amal Hassan, Dr Mrs Juliet Odii, Faiz Bashir, Dr Dahiru Sani, Prof Bashir Galadanchi, Dr Usman Ali and Ahmad Abubakar Bello, among others.