WILL TINUBU APPOINT DR BOSUN TIJANI AS NIGERIA’S TECH MINISTER?

With his name among the second batch of 19 persons pencilled down as ministers in his cabinet, will President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assign Dr. Olatunbosun Tijani the portfolio of Federal Minister of Communications and Digital Economy?

Many of you reading this post know that Bosun, 46 years, is the Co-Founder/CEO of Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) and that he is the pioneer of the tech hub concept not only in Nigeria but indeed in Africa.

Some of you may also remember that he it was who brought Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria in 2016 (not the Federal Government or Lagos State Government or our tech ministry, or any agency of the ministry). He also brought Jack Dorsey, founder and immediate past CEO of Twitter to Nigeria in 2019. And most recently (in June 2023), he hosted a powerful Q&A session with Bill Gates during the Pan-African Youth Innovation Forum 2023, organized jointly by Lagos Business School and CcHUB.

In many sectors of our economy today, what you find, in all honesty, is sham and lacklustre performance. But when it comes to the tech industry Nigeria is GOLD! With Dr. Tijani providing the public sector leadership for this fast growing industry, I want to believe that something awesome is on the way for our country.

I don’t know Bosun from Adam. He doesn’t know me either. But I am very familiar with his story and exploits in the tech ecosystem. And as a tech enthusiast and advocate for Nigeria, I would be excited about him as the next Federal Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.

Whoever occupies this office is essentially the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Nigeria. I think Dr. Bosun Tijani fits this bill.