The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Enugu state Frank Nweke Jr, has restated his commitment to harness the potential of Enugu State to become a tech giant.
He stated this while on a tour of four technology hubs in the capital city on Thursday, September 22. While acknowledging his previous support for the tech hubs and their programmes, Nweke said that the tour became necessary to reacquaint himself with the current state of the industry.
Nweke said he had never doubted the brilliance, talent and flair for tech innovation amongst young people in Enugu State which informed his support for the growth of the tech community over the past few years through trainings, sponsorships and investments.
“What I have seen today is beyond impressive and all of these have happened in spite of the government that has tried to stifle their growth. You can imagine what will happen when the government becomes intentional about building the technology ecosystem and providing the right environment for growth”, he said.
The APGA gubernatorial hopeful also commented on the intentionality of his visit to the selected tech hubs, noting the diversity of talent across the tech ecosystem in Enugu.
According to him, all the hubs visited have training as part of their programs even as they addressed diverse touchpoints of the tech value chain.
“Enugu has everything covered. Genesys and Digital Dreams focus on software development. We have Xend that has put Enugu on the map as a global digital finance platform. Then, there is Greenage Tech providing solutions to the power problem in the country by building solar equipments and inverters from locally sourced materials”, he said.
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The former Minister of Information was also expressed delight at meeting with a children’s tech trainer named Kelechi who he said was a beneficiary of a coding training program he sponsored in 2018.
According to him, it brings fulfilment to see a beneficiary of one of the tech programs he sponsored in the past staying back in Enugu to train more young people.
“This gives credence to my belief in the potential of our young people to rewrite the story of Enugu State if given the right opportunities and training.
“We have the advantage of a booming youth population and the most number of tertiary institutions in the southeast. With the political will, the vision and the commitment, we can facilitate technology inclusion in our curriculum, empower the ecosystem and establish Enugu as a technology and innovation destination” Nweke said.
