Vice President Kashim Shettima says the reforms undertaken by President Bola Tinubu’s administration are already stabilising the economy, inspiring investors’ confidence, and attracting commendation from independent observers.
Mr Shettima said this on Tuesday in Abuja when he declared open the Digital Nigeria International Conference and Exhibition 2025.
He also said the administration of Mr Tinubu has succeeded in ending the regimes of volatility and unpredictability that once characterised Nigeria’s economy.
The vice president said that global economic uncertainties, including “shocks, shifting alliances, and the rapid displacement of traditional jobs by emerging technologies,” have compelled the administration to act boldly.
Mr Shettima cited Fitch’s upgrade of Nigeria’s sovereign rating to B with a stable outlook and Moody’s lifting of the nation’s issuer rating to B3 with a stable outlook as instances of the global acclaim the country is getting.
“The world is taking note of the steady course the nation is maintaining. What this administration has achieved is to end the regimes of volatility and unpredictability that once defined our economy.
”The phase before us now is to ensure that these macroeconomic gains trickle down to the people, from the kiosks of our neighbourhood traders to the boardrooms of our multinational corporations.
“We did what we have done because we can no longer apply 20th-century solutions to 21st-century problems,” he declared, even as he expressed delight with the conference and exhibition.
Mr Shettima said the vision of the conference and exhibition, with the theme “Innovation for a Sustainable Digital Future: Accelerating Growth, Inclusion, and Global Competitiveness,” aligns with Mr Tinubu’s economic reform agenda.
He said the future the administration is building “is one where the young Nigerian takes the front seat, sits at the decision-making table, and has a voice in shaping our destiny.”
The vice president stated that the watchword for Nigeria’s long-term stability is digital.
He noted, however, that the nation must set its priorities right if it “must move beyond the ‘quick wins’ of simple apps to building deep-tech solutions that address foundational challenges in agriculture, health, logistics, and governance.
”We need a digital ecosystem that works as seamlessly in Lagos as it does in Abuja, in Port Harcourt, in Kano, in Gusau, and across every corner of our nation.
”The digital success we seek is one where the farmer in Bida can access real-time market data to sell his harvest at a fair price, where a young woman in Oguta can work remotely for a global company because she has connectivity and the skills to compete. That is the inclusive growth President Tinubu envisions,” he added.
He pointed out that Nigeria cannot keep lamenting its “absence at the table in the previous Industrial Revolutions” when the current digital wave has offered the nation “a redemptive opportunity to define its own “terms in the next chapter of global progress.”
Mr Shettima outlined three pillars on which the strategy adopted by the Tinubu administration rests: people, infrastructure, and policy.
He said the administration was integrating digital literacy into school curricula, promoting inclusion through the Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL) initiative to digitise the informal sector, and developing world-class expertise through the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme.
Also, he said it is constructing the broadband “superhighway” that powers a digital economy and creating an enabling environment that encourages innovation.
He disclosed that the administration was already in the advanced stages of passing the National Digital Economy and e-Governance Bill into law.
“Just as the cashless policy unlocked the fintech revolution, this new bill will unlock the GovTech revolution, an era of smarter governance, greater transparency, and inclusive service delivery.”
The vice-president solicited the support of the private sector, including economic experts, stating that the government could not achieve its goals without them.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, said that the digital policies being implemented by the Tinubu administration are on course to boost the country’s digital infrastructure.
The director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi, applauded the vice-president for his support, commitment, and for championing the cause of Nigerian youths.
The chief executive officer, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Vincent Olatunji, highlighted the huge socioeconomic potential of the global digital economy and emphasised the need for Nigeria to take its rightful place in the digital sector.
(NAN)
