Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
The Managing Director, Edo State Investment Promotion Office (ESIPO), Mr. Kelvin Uwaibi, has rated the state governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki very high at the annual Africa Business Forum in Tallinn, Estonia, for setting the pace for other states to follow technologically.
This is followed when he said that the governor has laid an additional 2,000 km of fiber optics to connect all 18 local government areas with internet access and constructing a tier 4 data center.
Mr. Uwaibi said that the state government is highly technologically compliance as its activities are run electronically.
‘Additionally, our public sector reforms facilitated by our revolutionary e-government structure, which enables Edo State Government staff to work remotely and efficiently.
“This reform includes providing laptops to government employees and, in collaboration with our partners, training 3,000 staff members in ICT.”
Uwaibi said that innovation can occur more quickly in Africa compared to more developed regions due to less entrenched legacy infrastructure.
ESIPO MD, who was in line with the position of the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Technology, Dr. Olatunbosun Tijani, stated that the private sector is crucial in developing Nigeria’s technology infrastructure.
Uwaibi emphasized the need for improvement in the potential of data harmonization, which he expressed the hope to achieve through the Estonia X-Road model.
“It was encouraging to see many entrepreneurs in Estonia expressing interest in conducting business in Nigeria. We plan to follow up with these enterprises.”
He lauded the Africa Leadership Fellowship for facilitating the impactful event organised by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union Programme”NextGenerationEU“.
The theme of the event is, “Building Pathways to Partnerships.”
