By Chinenye Anuforo, [email protected]
The Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has expressed confidence in Nigeria’s technological growth, saying the country has a crop of talented and innovative youth that will sustain the boom and ensure that the Nigeria is not left behind.
The VP stated this at the end of the 20th anniversary of Interswitch held over the weekend in Lagos.
While noting that innovation and technology open exciting new frontiers in medicine and healthcare, the VP was confident that Nigeria would not be left behind in these areas because it has many talented and enterprising young entrepreneurs.
According to him, with the rapid growth of innovation and technology recorded over the years globally, there are even more exciting new frontiers to be explored and harnessed by Nigerian innovators.
Government’s role: Reiterating the commitment of the Buhari Administration to providing the enabling environment for young entrepreneurs and businesses to thrive, Osinbajo said:
· “Our responsibility as a government has been to meet them halfway, and perhaps outpace them with corresponding creativity in the provision of forward-thinking regulatory frameworks and adequate infrastructure. I can assure you that no effort is being spared in this regard.
· “Nevertheless, there is still so much to be done; and a lot of ground to cover. I have no doubt though that we are up to the task.”
Osibanjo commended the payment company’s pivotal role in shaping and growing Nigeria’s payment system over the past two decades. Speaking about Interswitch, he said:
“It’s incredible that what began as a noble idea, has in barely two decades, become something of an icon of technology and innovation, literally pioneering Africa’s ongoing fintech revolution. In 2002, only 569 million people were connected to the internet worldwide, and at that time, Nigeria had less than 200,000 people with internet access. It is therefore a testament to the quality of the talent and courage of the founders of Interswitch that they saw the future clearly and predicted the potentials of a nascent technology for scale and application.”
Governor of Edo state, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, who was present to celebrate the milestone, congratulated the organization on the milestone and applauded Interswitch for being a laudable example of the good that can come out of Nigeria.
The anniversary celebrations, which kicked off in August 2022 with the launch of a campaign themed, ‘Never Stop’, have amplified Interswitch’s innovative milestones in the digital payment ecosystem, designing products and solutions that have, for two decades, continued to drive prosperity across Africa.