Members of the Digital Innovation Council attended the inauguration, which took place in the Council Chambers of the State House in Abuja before the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
The vice-president, who serves as vice-chairman, and the minister of communication and the digital economy are additional council members. The vice-president will serve as chairman when the chairman and vice-chairman are absent.
A 14-member National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship has been established by President Muhammadu Buhari with the purpose of directing the implementation of the Nigeria Startup Act (NSA) 2022.
The president instructed the Secretariat, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), to ensure the faithful implementation of the Act, which offers incentives and support for start-ups, including tax breaks and access to funding, in a speech on Wednesday at the inauguration of the council he will serve as chair of.
The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), four representatives from the startups consultative forum, one representative from each of the Nigerian Computer Societies, the Computer Registration Council of Nigeria, and the Director General of the Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) serve as the council’s secretaries. Other members include the ministers of finance, budget, and national planning; industry, trade, and investment; science, technology, and innovation.
The president observed that between 2019 and 2022, Nigerian companies raised more than $4 billion, placing the country in the forefront of Africa’s impressive growth in the startup sector.
As a result, Buhari gave the council’s members the task of maximizing the potential of Nigeria’s youthful and creative population, which has proven its inventiveness, originality, and entrepreneurial spirit by coming up with creative answers to the problems facing the country and the continent.
