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Top Drivers of ICT President Buhari Can Pick as CommTech Minister
If President Muhammadu Buhari is indisposed to keeping Mrs. Omobola Johnson, the immediate and pioneer Minister of Communication Technology who is believed to have laid a solid foundation for CommTech Ministry, the President owes Nigeria a duty to appoint another person who will continue in that capacity.
The Nigerian ICT industry has produced some great managers of men and resources that will help President Buhari and his party actualise their “Change” project by leveraging on ICT as the driver.
While the President and his team are working round the clock to pick names of ministers that will drive the “Change” agenda, it is beneficial for Nigeria if he takes a critical look at the following 10 people who are Dreamers, Doers and Drivers (3Ds) of ICT in Nigeria and select one of them as the CommTech Minister.
COLLINS ONUEGBU
Founder and EVC of Lagos based ICT firm, Signal Alliance, which specializes in systems integration, Onuegbu recently left the CEO post to focus on a new role which allows him to invest in and develop technology start-ups – initially in Nigeria and later in Africa- called Sasware.
A member of the Lagos Angel Network, he recently joined VC4Africa’s investor network as a Pro member.
He was one of the finalists in the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2013 and his company has won numerous awards. He is an alumni of Harvard Business School, the Class of 2010; Boston. Massachusetts, Lagos Business School, Pan African University, Lagos, Class of 2002; University of Nigeria, Class of 1988.
GBENGA ADEBAYO
President and founder of Royal FM 95.1Mhz, the first private FM radio station in Ilorin, North Central Nigeria, Adebayo is the chairman of African Broadband Limited, owners of Royal FM, Royal TV and Royal Times of Nigeria newspapers.
As the chairman and group CEO of Communication Network Support Services and CNSSL Contact Centre, a leading business process outsource company in telecom network engineering and contact centre operations across Nigeria, Adebayo is the chair of Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), an industry association for all Telecommunications Operators in Nigeria. ALTON’s membership includes all major telecommunications licenses in Nigeria, particularly those providing voice and data telephony as well as those providing ancillary and other related value added services.
He is the chairman and founder of Savannah Hotels and Resort Centre, Ilorin, owner and Chief Farmer of Chesterfield Farms, Chancellor of Premier Vocational Training Institute Nigeria, a foremost vocational training centre for middle level manpower development across trades in Nigeria and a founding partner of Acoometi Premier Services (UK), a consultancy and advisory services company registered in England and Wales.
Author of Telecom in Nigeria, a Role in the Call, a book on telecommunications development in Nigeria (2006), Adebayo is a former GM of VGC Communications, a private telephone operator and provider of digital fibre optic supported land line services, data communications and broadband internet services.
He is a member of the following: national broadband implementation policy, Nigeria, ministerial advisory council, governing board of Digital Bridge Institute Abuja, Telecom Industry Advisory Forum – ICAF, Nigeria Communications Commission Eminent Advisory Group on Number Portability, Nigeria National Communications Policy Review Committee, advisory council of the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers among others.
EMMANUEL EKUWEM
President of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), immediate past president of Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) and CEO of Teledom Group, an indigenous conglomerate company with expertise in Broadband ICT infrastructure development, deployment and software development for Telecom process automation, Dr. Ekuwem has tremendous capabilities and versatility in telecom engineering, IT and telecom peripherals instrumentation.
His vast knowledge, expertise and experience are resource and guiding tool for both his company and the larger society.
An alumnus of Obafemi Awolowo University (University of Ife) Ile-Ife, he holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering Physics and two Masters Degree in Physics and Electronic & Electrical Engineering respectively as well as a PhD in Electronic and Electrical Engineering.
He had his Post-PhD fellowship research work in Networking and Radio Propagation Laboratory of the UNESCO ICTP, Trieste, Italy.
He is a member of the following group: Infrastructure committee of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, chairman, Technical Committee of the Nigerian Universities Network (NUNet) and Nigerian Universities Management Information System (NUMIS) – NUNet/NUMIS, Presidential committee on 419 on the Internet and cybercrime, Nigerian Cybercrime working group, infrastructure sub-committee of the National IT Strategic Action PLAN, Faculty Board of the Faculty of Technology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, UNESCO’s ICTP (Trieste, Italy) Regional Coordinator of the Nigerian Universities Network (NuNet) among others.
LANRE AJAYI
Founder of Pinet Informatics, one of the first internet service providers in Nigeria, Engr. Ajayi had his Bachelors and Masters degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He worked for the Nigeria Telecommunications Ltd (NITEL) for 11 years.
He has served as the Vice-President of the internet service providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN) and as the vice chairman of African ISP Association (Africa).
He is a co-founder and the immediate past president of the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), a not for profit organisation committed to the promotion of the Internet in Nigeria. He is a founding member of Africa Network Information Centre (AfriNIC).
He has also served on the council of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) as the Chairman of Research and Statistics committee. He was Chairman of Technical committee on the Nigeria Country Code Top Level Domain Name (.ng). He was the Chairman of ISPAN committee on the implementation of the Nigeria Internet Exchange Point. He was also a board member of the Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN).
He has served Nigeria in several capacities. He served as a member of the National Cybercrime Working Group (NCWG).
He also served on the Federal Government committee on the National University Network (NUNet).
He was appointed as a member of the Presidential task force for the restructuring of the Information and Communication Technology sector in Nigeria.
He is a member of the following group: Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), fellow of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) and a registered member of the Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN). He was listed as one of the icons of Information and Communication Technologies in Nigeria in a compendium compiled in the year 2004 and was named the Nigerian ICT personality of the year 2007. He is currently the President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).
YELE OKEREMI
Founding and current CEO of Precise Financial Systems, a company that is involved in the development of software for use in the financial sector, Okeremi started out with a capital of about $80.
His company has grown into a multi-million dollar concern with clients in over 27 countries.
A Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science (with Economics) from the Obafemi Awolowo University and a Masters in Business Administration.
He is an alumnus of the Wits Business School, Johannesburg South Africa and currently undergoing the Owner/President Management Program (OPM) at the prestigious Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
He has passion for the development of intellectual capital of the black race and continues to advocate his position that irrespective of the conditions of the black man, the black man is by no means inferior in intelligence to anyone else in the world.
He has had a successful professional career starting at Inlaks computers, from where he moved to Industrial Bank Limited (Merchant Bankers) as a Programmer/Analyst. He rose to become IT Manager of the bank and then left for Ventura Savings and Loans Limited as the Head, Systems and Logistics department.
A leading icon in software development in Nigeria and is a member of the Presidential Initiative for developing the software industry in Nigeria. He is the chairman of the Local Organising Committee of hugely successful Demo Africa that Nigeria hosted in 2014.
AUSTIN OKERE
Group CEO of Computer Warehouse Group [CWG], one of the fastest growing information and communication technology companies in Africa today, which he founded in 1992, Okere has grown the company over the years from just a computer hardware supply company to a pan-African, multinational, systems integration corporation with direct operations in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda. CWG serves customers in 20 African countries.
From an initial annual turnover of under a million dollars, CWG now has a turnover of about $120 million US, and staff strength of about 550 professionals.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria and serves in many other professional bodies including Frontier 100 (Initiative for Global Development IGD), Nigeria-South Africa Chamber, Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) and Nigerian Computer Society (NCS).
In 2010 he was named the “Most Outstanding ICT Personality of the Decade” by ICT Watch Africa. In 2003, he received the “IT Personality of the Year” Award, by the Nigerian IT & Telecom Awards (NITTA), and has received numerous awards.
He holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Computer Sciences from the University of Lagos, and is a member of the pioneer Executive MBA class of Lagos Business School.
He has 24 years of industry experience covering roles in systems analysis, corporate management, sales & marketing, with 18 years as founder and CEO of the CWG.
One of his strongest passions is motivating African youth, inspiring them to chart a fuller life. He is happily married with children.
YEMI KERI
Former MD of the Edo State Information Communications & Technology Agency (ICTA) with over twenty years experience, ten of which has been at the highest management levels in the Information Communication Technology industry, Keri was adjudged severally as the Best Public CIO in Nigeria in the past four years. She now works with NATCOM as IT Manager.
A multidisciplinary graduate of Accounting (University of Maiduguri) and Management in Information Systems (Project Management) from the American InterContinental University, Illinois, she holds membership of several professional bodies including ICAN, CIBN, CITN and the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS). She has various certifications in Risk and Project management.
Keri provided State-wide strategic leadership to the designing and implementation of strategic programme for Information Technology transformation, including the designing of end-to-end integration processes. She is credited with creating the framework of the ICT policy in Edo State, broadening the recognition of the values and acceptance of information technology into the public service and the establishment of the first-ever ICT agency – a critical enabler for the full delivery of e-governance in the State. This has attracted collaborative support from International Development Agencies (IDA) and study tour from Federal and State agencies.
She was responsible for the management and supervision of the centralized ICT structure of the State Government which spans from the business strategy, implementation of networks, communications, infrastructure, software and the information systems that relates to all ministries, departments and agencies as well as the 18 LGAs. In addition to these, she is a member of the government policy think-tank – Economic and Strategy team and a member of the State Budget Committee.
Her exceptional professional and work experience spans several diverse sectors of the economy where she held management positions.
These include IT, banking, advertising and construction industries. Prior to her appointment as Executive Director in 2009, she spent six years with SAP (Systems Applications Products), the world’s leading business solutions provider, where she was the Customer, Solutions and Operations (CSO) for Nigeria and the Regional Manager for West Africa.
During this period, she led and managed World Class Services as delivered by SAP and its business partners such as Deloitte, Accenture and Price Waterhouse Coopers amongst several others in the SAP ecosystem to co-innovate and offer the best and most contemporary IT-driven solution for businesses.
GERALD ILUKWE
Former CEO and Managing Director at Galaxy Backbone, Ilukwe has acquired extensive experience working for a string of well-known IT companies.
He was the GM, Microsoft Nigeria, the Nigerian subsidiary of Microsoft Corp with responsibility extending across English speaking West Africa. A widely travelled man, Ilukwe has established and maintained first-rate relationships with key influencers and ICT stakeholders in Nigeria and other African countries.
Prior to his appointment with Microsoft, he worked with SAP in South Africa, the global leader in enterprise planning applications as a consultant. In the course of his career, he has had stints at other blue chip companies such as IBM, Nigerian Bottling Company and MTS. Since 2004, he has been serving in different capacities as a member of various Federal Government committees on the development of ICTs in Nigeria.
He has earned many honours including the ‘Outstanding Contributor’ award Microsoft Global Briefing 2002 and West, East, and Central Africa General Manager’s award 2003. He has attended courses and training all around Europe and Africa on Management, Leadership, Project Management and other areas. He is an Electronic Engineering graduate from University of Nigeria, Nsukka and holds an Executive MBA degree as well.
OBARO JOHN
CEO and MD of Systemspecs, a company he started 22 years ago after reaching the peak of a fulfilling career in the banking industry, Obaro’s decision in 1992 to break away from a successful and promising career in regular employment at IMB came as a shock to many because IMB was widely regarded as one of Nigeria’s top-notch banks.
He partnered Systems Union, UK offering a foreign accounting software and moved on to developing and nurturing a firm that has since become Nigeria’s foremost indigenous software house with about 150 talented Nigerians from various backgrounds and disciplines.
Today, the company’s home grown HumanManager Payroll & Human Resource management software is a leading name among public and private sector organizations in Nigeria while its Remita, e-payment, e-invoicing, e-collections & e-payroll platform has emerged a national asset on which about $3 billion worth of transactions are processed monthly.
Obaro was recognized as Nigeria’s IT Personality of the Year 2013 in addition to a series of indigenous and international awards he had received over the years.
He is a distinguished alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, University of Lagos and the Chief Executive Program (CEP3) of Lagos Business School.
He has served at various times on the boards of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Information and Communication Technology, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), Governing Council of the National ICT Incubation Program (iDea), and many more.
He is a fellow of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), a ex-member of the Governing Council of Computer Professionals (Registration Council) of Nigeria (CPN) – the highest industry practice regulatory body and 1stVice President of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON)
John is a die-hard advocate and promoter of indigenous software development initiative and a role model for promising and success desiring young entrepreneurs.
DR. BASHIR GWANDU
Former vice chair of Committee of the ITU Radio communications Assembly 2012 (RA-12), Dr. Gwandu was the chairman of the CIG in 2012 and was the acting CEO of the Nigerian Telecoms Regulatory body, the NCC, from June to July 2010.
He has designed many devices that are used in the telecom industry some of which have been patented in Europe and United States.
He is a Chartered Electrical Engineer, and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Technology (IET) in the UK, and has published over 40 Electronic and Electrical Engineering Research papers in world-class Electrical Engineering journals and conference proceedings. Since 2002, Dr Gwandu has been involved in research work on Regulation of Utilities.
After completing his BSc in Physics from Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto and an MSc in Applied Physics from the University of Jos, in addition to a brief Engineering service at the Tactical Air-command, Makurdi and lecturing at Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, he went to the UK where he attended MSc Courses in Power Electronics and Drives and MSc courses in Communications Engineering; he further obtained an MPhil degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering, all from the University of Birmingham.
He was the Executive Commissioner for Engineering and Technical Standards at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); supervised all Directors/Staff concerned with National Spectrum planning, monitoring, and management, Quality of Service Monitoring and Network Optimization, Equipment Conformance Assessment and Interoperability testing -Type-approval, Numbering Plan, Allocation and Management. He was the Executive Commissioner in Charge of Licensing and Consumer Affairs of the NCC until June 2007.
At Licensing, Gwandu supervised the interconnect rate determination of Sept 2006 that led to improved competition thereby leading to significant reduction in telecom tariff in Nigeria, the re-classification of sales and installation licenses to Class-Category which has encouraged SMEs entry into the market, the issuance of all the 17 Unified- and hundreds of other Licenses in Nigeria that led to increased competition, the Liberalization of International Gateway for GSM operators that allows for carrying of 3rd Party Traffic thereby reducing tariff for International Calls, the elongation of Access Validity period beyond 90days for all networks on execution of every Revenue Generating Event which has cut down consumer loses and inconveniences, the introduction of Anti- Mobile Phone Theft Scheme in Nigeria to curtail phone theft among others.
Manufacturers and small businesses are set to benefit from a new era of seamless cross-border payments, thanks to the launch of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System- PAPSS Cowry, a game-changing payment platform.
This cutting-edge platform, backed by Afreximbank, the AU and AfCFTA, and recently launched in Lagos, promises to increase efficiency, reduce costs and boost trade across the continent as it connects 160 banks across 19 countries and positions Africa for a bigger share of its $329 cross-border market.
The platform delivers 120-second local currency settlement, removing USD bottlenecks, cutting FX friction and strengthening the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) driven trade flows.
Mike Ogbalu, CEO of PAPSS, in his keynote address at the platform launch themed ‘Building an Interoperable and Sovereign Africa Payment Ecosystem for Trade and Economic Growth,’ explained that AfCFTA has provided a single market for the continent’s 1.9 billion people that needs a seamless cross-border payment platform to trade.
“We have created it as an ecosystem that will pack all of us together in a way that we are able to empower each other rather than compete,” he said.
“Create a centralised value that everybody can leverage without affecting the individual value proposition of all the entities that leverage this way,” he added.
He stated that the Pan-Africa payment rail has connected 19 countries and plans to expand to 40, adding that 160 leading commercial banks across the continent are connected to the platform.
“We are also now enabling fintech companies across the continent to be able to originate payments in one market and terminate them in another market,” he explained.
“PAPSS is that financial market infrastructure that allows for the processing of cross-border payments in local currencies and is able to do that in no more than 120 seconds,” he added.
He appreciated central banks across the continent for their support, saying that a governance infrastructure has been created to make sure the payment system continues to operate in the right way. He stressed that sovereign payments are critical for the continent’s survival.
Haytham EI Maayerigi, executive vice president – global trade bank, Afreximbank, stressed that African businesses still face real barriers, whose border payments remain slow, expensive, and impossible sometimes, with $5 billion lost yearly to third-currency routing.
He explained that the situation has made it difficult for small businesses to find trusted partners, affordable finance and adequate market information, noting that with AfCFTA advancing, it must be easy for firms to trade with each other.
He said Afrexim, which is a promoter of PAPSS, works daily to remove these obstacles. “Together with AfCTA and the African Union, we are building the institutional foundation of a truly integrated market, supporting a lot of the initiatives.”
“Through advisory, guarantees, certification and project preparation, we mobilise the capital that builds factories, logistic hubs, processing plants, energy systems, the backbone of African industrialisation.”
He stressed that capital alone will not deliver integration and that the African continental trade also needs a digital spine, a system that connects markets, trust, information, logistics, finance and payments.
Experts say Africa requires a better business environment to unleash its potential and drive intra-African trade. The experts noted that the PAPSS Cowry platform will help improve the ease of doing business across the continent.
Wamkele Mene, secretary general, AfCFTA Secretariat, described the platform as a key enabler of AfCFTA, giving its practical effect on the continent’s vision of a fully integrated African market.
“It operationalises financial sovereignty by enabling the seamless flow of funds needed to sustain the world’s largest free trade area, and by reducing the friction that has historically held back intra-Africa trade,” Mene said.
He noted that the continent has 42 currencies, which alone creates structural barriers, saying that when two African traders rely on a third-country currency to trade, the cost of doing business rises sharply.
“Our continent loses an estimated $5billion annually in currency conversion.” PAPSS addresses this bottleneck directly by enabling instant settlement in local currencies and reducing reliance on expensive corresponding banking corridors.”
Africans are better educated today than they have been at any other time, with many African nations making strides towards ensuring access to quality education and lifelong learning for their citizens.
Afrilearn
UNESCO’s report on Transforming Learning and Skills Development notes that delivering education well is not only a fundamental human right, it is also a critical ingredient of building solid foundations for the future, empowering people not just to develop the skills they will need for the workplace, but also ensuring that they can unlock their potential as members of society.
UNICEF estimates that there are 450 million school-age children in Africa in 2025, and this population is predicted to swell to over 600 million by 2050. However, although 75 million more African children are enrolled in school today compared to 2015, the number of out-of-school children has increased by 13.2 million to over 100 million during the same period. For Africa to actively participate in the global digital economy, it’s a continent-wide imperative to unlock not just access to education, but access to the resources that will help children thrive in education.
Harnessing technology to provide educational resources
Millions of children across the continent are eager but struggling to learn or are dropping out due to the high cost of quality education, outdated materials, and overburdened teachers. Schools also struggle with reliable web access – the Global Education Monitoring Report found that Africa has the lowest school connectivity globally, with most schools lacking even basic electricity, making reliable internet rare. Mobile penetration in Africa is far higher, yet many learning platforms are built for the web.
In 2020, frustrated by their own experiences, and tired of witnessing how young Africans were held back by a lack of access to quality education, a group of entrepreneurs started Afrilearn International Limited. Their goal was simple, but ambitious: to democratise access to quality education across Africa using a mobile-first solution.
The company started with ClassNotes.ng, which quickly became the #1 education platform in Nigeria, empowering students with curriculum-based class notes. By July 2022, Afrilearn had reached 1 million learners across Nigeria and Africa, a major step in delivering quality education to undeserved communities.
Now, this AI-powered K-12 learning platform is on a mission to make world-class education freely available to all African children by making learning fun, using gamified experiences to engage school learners with their studies.
The Afrilearn App for Students provides a comprehensive library of study materials and homework help. Learners can master a subject using the class notes, video lessons, quiz materials and games on the app, earning coins, and winning rewards along the way, while parents can track their children’s progress through learning reports. Afrilearn also provides adaptive practice for local and international exams through Exambly.com, which provides free exam practice for entrance, admission and matriculation exams across Africa.
Supporting educators is part of the process
To support educators, Afrilearn has built and refined its new AI-powered School Management Software, which is a smart platform for learning, administration, and managing school fees, reports and results.
The company collaborates with Schoolinka, a leading African teacher-training organisation, to co-create and distribute professional development resources, onboard teachers onto Afrilearn, and support schools with continuous training. This has significantly improved teacher adoption and classroom impact across the schools Afrilearn serves.
A constant evolution
The School Management Software offering was developed as part of the first cohort of the Microsoft and NVIDIA African GenAI Accelerator Programme. The collaboration allowed Afrilearn to leverage Azure AI and cloud infrastructure to enhance automation, learning personalisation and school analytics on the platform.
The company created a rebuilt, AI-powered SMS programme during the Accelerator Programme, and plans to introduce upgrades including adaptive learning profiles, predictive analytics and automated fee management for schools, and offline-first learning flows. Teachers will soon benefit from enhanced AI tools for lesson preparation and assessments.
With Microsoft’s support, Afrilearn uses GitHub for its engineering workflow, enabling the company to release updates faster and with fewer errors. Visual Studio Code is the team’s preferred integrated development environment, as its integration with Axure extensions, debugging tools and GitHub repository reduce friction across engineering tasks. Collectively, these tools, alongside Azure, have improved delivery speed, strengthened reliability and enabled the team to build a more stable, scalable AI education platform. And for a distributed team working in multiple countries, Microsoft’s collaboration tools, Teams and Sharepoint, have proven invaluable for daily contact and communication.
Broadening access to education across Africa
To date, Afrilearn has reached more than 4 million learners and more than 800 schools across more than 10 countries. More than 80% of users report achieving improved learning outcomes within a week of consistent usage, while the AI-powered personalisation improves learners’ grades by up to 52 percent within eight weeks of consistent study. Schools implementing the Afrilearn management software have saved more than 10 administrative hours per week and have boosted their fee collection by 35 to 40 percent.
The Afrilearn team has big ambitions to scale into additional countries across Africa, deepening partnerships with UNICEF and the African Union to scale their impact. In addition to Nigeria, Afrilearn serves learners in Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia and the wider diaspora.
“At Afrilearn, we’re the ecosystem closing the gap between Africa’s potential and its future, where no child is left behind because of where they live or how much their parents earn. We’re especially excited about our upcoming product upgrades that make personalised learning even more accessible to children at home and in school,” says Isaac Oladipupo, CEO at Afrilearn. “Our goal is to reach 10 million learners across 12 African countries in the next 36 months. We believe that every child deserves a quality education that positions them for future success.”
Yemi Kale, Afreximbank’s Group Chief Economist, yesterday said that Nigeria is positioned to drive Africa’s transition into a digitally enabled trade ecosystem, arguing that the country’s demographic strength and emerging innovation hubs give it a competitive edge as the continent reshapes its economic future under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Speaking in Abuja on Thursday at Afreximbank’s high-level forum on trade intelligence and digital innovation, themed “Unlocking Nigeria’s Trade and Investment Potential Through Digital Innovation and the Abuja AATC”, Kale said Africa is “at a defining inflection point” that will determine whether it reacts to global economic shifts or helps shape them.
He noted that the AfCFTA’s unified market—covering more than 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion—offers countries like Nigeria a historic opening to boost industrialisation and deepen regional value chains. “The AfCFTA presents a unique once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand and strengthen regional value chains,” Kale said.
He added that deeper integration will help African economies diversify away from primary commodities and build resilience against external shocks, long-standing vulnerabilities that have limited growth across the continent.
Kale said digital transformation is now the most powerful lever to unlock the AfCFTA’s potential, as African economies still face fragmented markets, high logistics costs, weak trade data systems and cross-border payment frictions.
He argued that digital tools—from automated customs processing to e-commerce platforms and blockchain-enabled documentation—could sharply cut transaction costs and improve market access for Nigerian firms.
“Digital innovation is therefore not just the engine of trade—it is the new highway on which African commerce will travel,” he said. “Those who build and use this highway early will lead tomorrow’s markets.”
He cited Rwanda’s digital single-window system, which cut export processing times by more than 90%, and Africa’s mobile-money infrastructure, which handles more than $800 billion annually, as examples of what digital trade systems can deliver at scale.
Kale also highlighted the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which enables cross-border payments in local currencies and is expected to save African businesses billions in conversion costs.
He illustrated the transformative impact of digital tools with the story of a young leather-goods exporter from Kano who turned a small operation into a cross-continental business after adopting digital trade platforms and digital payments. “Her success is a clear example of how digital innovation can turn local ambition into continental and global opportunity,” he said.
Nigeria, he added, has the natural ingredients to lead Africa’s digital trade surge, including a young population, a fast-growing technology sector, and entrepreneurs who are already building products for global markets.
“We are a nation of entrepreneurs, creators and problem-solvers, and our demographic advantage is unmatched,” Kale said.
With 65% of Nigerians under age 25, he said the country’s youth “are founding technology start-ups, writing software code, designing digital solutions, and shaping entirely new industries.”
Afreximbank, he disclosed, intends to play a catalytic role by financing trade and investment, strengthening regional value chains and rolling out digital infrastructure through the Africa Trade Gateway (ATG).
The Gateway integrates trade information, due-diligence tools, market insights and secure payment systems—capabilities he described as essential for businesses aiming to scale across Africa.
Kale said Nigeria’s leadership is already evident with the launch of the Abuja Afreximbank African Trade Centre (AATC), which he described as both a strategic asset and symbolic commitment to modernising Africa’s trade architecture.
The centre combines conference facilities, SME incubation hubs, trade-information services and access to the ATG under one roof, and is the first in a planned network of one-stop trade centres across Africa and the diaspora.
Urging policymakers and private-sector leaders to seize the moment, Kale stressed, “If we commit to digital transformation, to collaboration, and to bold, forward-looking action, then Africa will not only participate in the global economy—we will shape it.”
He further argued that a digitally integrated continent would unlock new opportunities for farmers, creatives, SMEs and young innovators. “This is not a distant dream,” he said. “It is a future within our reach.”
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