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President Bola Tinubu has moved to halt the relocation of Nigerian technology companies and their intellectual property to foreign jurisdictions, setting a 180-day deadline for the full implementation of the Digital Free Zones initiative.
The initiative, which includes the $500 million Itana Innovation project in Lagos, is designed to enable Nigerian and other African technology and service companies to establish, finance and scale their businesses from Nigeria while serving markets across the world.
The president said the government’s objective was to ensure that Nigeria retains more of the economic value generated by its growing pool of technology talent, including jobs, investments, intellectual property and professional services.
Tinubu, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Thursday said Nigerian entrepreneurs should no longer have to establish their companies abroad simply to gain access to international capital and markets.
“For too long, some of our most promising young entrepreneurs have felt compelled to establish their companies and intellectual property abroad to access global capital and markets. I do not accept that this must remain the case,” the president said.
“I want the next generation of African technology, finance, and service companies to be built, headquartered and scaled to the world from Nigerian soil.”
To drive the initiative, Tinubu directed the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, who is Vice-Chairman and Implementation Coordinator of the Presidential Steering Committee on Digital Free Zones, to work with the Itana Innovation project and the committee to develop a roadmap for the full launch within 180 days.
The President established and chairs the Presidential Steering Committee as part of efforts to overhaul Nigeria’s free zone framework, created more than three decades ago, to meet the needs of the digital economy.
Already, Itana, described by the Presidency as Nigeria’s first Digital Free Zone, has been licensed by the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA).
The initiative is expected to provide a platform for global and pan-African digital and service businesses to establish and operate from Nigeria.
The $500 million Itana Innovation project at Alaro City, Lagos, is backed by the Africa Finance Corporation and will combine an enabling policy environment with an innovation campus, access to capital, and ecosystem services for African start-ups.
According to the Presidency, the project is intended to help African start-ups build at scale while retaining more of the value they create on the continent.
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Tinubu said the administration was targeting a digital economy in which Nigerians could participate in global businesses without being forced to relocate.
“I want a young Nigerian in Kano, Enugu, Warri, Minna, Maiduguri, or Ibadan to be able to work for a global company without leaving home,” he said.
The President also wants Nigerian founders to be able to raise capital internationally while keeping their companies and intellectual property in Nigeria.
He said such businesses would create a wider economic impact by employing Nigerians and patronising local professional services.
“When these businesses grow here, they employ Nigerians, use Nigerian professional services and retain more of the value they create in our economy,” Tinubu said.
The Presidential Steering Committee is expected to work across several areas that could determine the ease of operating digital businesses within the free zones, including regulation, taxation, banking, immigration, arbitration, and digitisation of government processes.
The President said the initiative would also help Nigeria take advantage of the rapid expansion of Africa’s digital economy and digitally enabled trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“Nigeria has the talent, enterprise and ambition to build companies that can compete anywhere in the world. Our responsibility as a government is to ensure that Nigerians do not have to leave Nigeria or rely on other jurisdictions to realise that potential,” he said.
Tinubu said Nigeria had both the talent and market to play a greater role in Africa’s global technology and digital economy value chain.
“This is what our Renewed Hope commitment to a digital economy looks like in practice, and this is how we transform reform into opportunities,” he said.
