The Managing Director of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, MOFI, Armstrong Takang, has warned that Nigeria could lose a significant share of the wealth generated by its growing technology sector unless more Nigerians invest in and own technology companies. Takang gave the warning in Lagos on Thursday at GITEX Nigeria, where he called for greater domestic participation in financing technology businesses.
He said Nigeria had made considerable progress in building its technology ecosystem over the past two decades but remained heavily dependent on foreign capital to finance the growth of many technology companies. According to him, the situation often results in Nigerian ownership being diluted as startups raise successive rounds of funding, leaving foreign investors with substantial equity in businesses created and developed in the country.
Takang identified access to capital as one of the major challenges confronting Nigerian technology companies and urged local investors, institutions and fund managers to increase their participation, particularly at the pre seed and early stages. He said stronger domestic investment would enable Nigerians to retain a greater share of the wealth created when successful technology companies pay dividends, are acquired or eventually become publicly listed.
The MOFI chief also said technology could play an important role in unlocking the value of government owned assets through digitisation and improved management. He cited Project Bridge, a public private initiative expected to deploy more than 90,000 kilometres of fibre infrastructure across Nigeria, as an example of how government assets and private capital could be combined to expand digital infrastructure. He stressed that Nigeria must move beyond being a consumer of digital products and develop an ecosystem in which local companies create technology, generate data and build lasting economic value for Nigerians