The Nigerian government has set up 10 billion naira ($21.7 million) every year under the Tech Startup Act to assist digital entrepreneurs in the country.
Professor Isa Pantami, the country’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, made the announcement during the formal launch of the Nigeria Startup Act Implementation Committee (NSAIC) in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Professor Sahalu Junaidu, Chairperson, will preside over the 27-member Committee, which will be co-chaired by Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu.
He stated that the world’s leading nations have achieved success by prioritising knowledge-based economies, technology and entrepreneurship developments, and start-ups as key sources of income.
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Professor Pantami stressed the importance of the Act in fostering digital startups, which would enhance the information and communications technology (ICT) industry.
The Minister praised Nigerian companies for putting the country on the world map with their outstanding achievement.
“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.“
He stated that the Nigeria Startup Act is required to combine and offer legal, technical, and financial backing to all of these accomplishments.
“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.“
According to Professor Pantami;“There is also a leadership where we are going to have the National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship to be chaired by the President of 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.“
The Minister, on the other hand, decried the unjustified harassments faced by young innovators in the country, who are frequently mistaken for criminals by law enforcement agents, noting that the Act would provide them with legal, technical, and financial assistance to help them overcome some of their difficulties.
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“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”.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard