President Muhammadu Buhari has signed Nigeria’s Startups Bills into law, activating the Nigeria Startups Act 2022.
Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Pantami, who disclosed this to State House Correspondents after the quiet signing ceremony at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, also disclosed that the new Act will be establishing the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council.
Pantami explained that the new law was born out of the government’s desire to provide the required enabling environments for Nigerian young startups and innovators to address the various challenges facing, including those of intellectual property, financing, regulation, and incentive.
The Minister, who disclosed that President Buhari, through the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, and the Office of the Chief of Staff, broached the bill from the onset, added that the government has earmarked N10 billion start-up funding for startups and innovators to draw from.
He said in recognition of the efforts of the Nigerian government in Information Communication Technology, ICT, Microsoft has decided to train about five million Nigerians on high demands skills geared towards job creation.
He said the ICT contributed 18.42 percent to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP this year alone, while the entire contribution of Communication and Digital Economy was 40 percent.
He further disclosed that before the passage of the bill, young innovators from the six geo-political zones of the country were engaged, adding that the Act provides the legal and strategic framework for the innovators to make their contributions to the country.
He said that out of the seven unicorns in Africa, five are Nigerians, adding that the market value of each unicorn is worth $ 1 billion.
A unicorn, he explained, is a privately held startup company valued at over US$1 billion.
