TheCable

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says Nigeria remains the best place to invest, given the population of the country.

In its 2019 state of the world population report, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) pegged Nigeria’s population at 201 million.

Speaking at an interactive session with foreign policy experts at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, US, on Monday, Osinbajo said the potentials of the country will keep attracting companies and investors.

According to a statement by Laolu Akande, his media aide, Osinbajo said the “potential, effort and impact being made by Nigerians in technology can enable the country roll out indigenous technology solutions that can transform the global space”.

He said government would leverage the efforts and resourcefulness of the vast  population of youth to actualise potentials in the sector.

“Our potential in technology and entertainment has been attracting huge attention,” he said.

“First is the market, at 174 million GSM phones, we are among the top ten telephone users in the world, and we have the highest percentage of people who use internet on their phones in the world.

“We are also number two in mobile internet banking in the world, and 17 million Nigerians are on Facebook. Microsoft has announced that it will establish a 100 million dollar African Development Centre in Nigeria.

“Second is the ever-growing number of technology startups, young digital entrepreneurs who are creating solutions to value chain and logistics challenges and creating thousands of jobs in the process.

“Andela, a software company training software developers for many Fortune 500 companies received a $24m dollar investment from Facebook.”

During the session, Osinbajo was asked about Nigeria’s stance on the issue of 5G rollout.

He said even though Nigeria is yet to roll out 5G, the country will do so eventually.

“We do not have those complications (comparatively) in taking decisions in that regard. But, we practically welcome every company that wants to do business with us in Nigeria. Huawei is in Nigeria and so are all the other technology companies,” he said.

“We haven’t gone through any kind of decision making for rolling out the 5G technology; as a matter of fact we are going to roll out 5G ourselves. Talking about the equipment and technology; how did the Chinese get it? How did anyone else get the technology? We will do it ourselves.”