Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo yesterday stated that the government of President Mohammadu Buhari was poised drive the economy and achieve growth through the use of technology.
To realize the objective, the federal government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Global Good Fund co-founded by Bill Gates.
Signing the MoU on behalf of the federal government, the Vice President said the administration “is interested in the idea of using technology because it is the way forward for those interested in rapid growth in the next decade”.
According to him, the world has moved on from the dark ages to a technologically driven society.
This, he said, was evident in both agriculture and Health sectors.
“I am interested in this whole idea of using technology to address some of our challenges”.
Flanked by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr. Udoma Udo Udoma at the signing the Vice President emphasized the importance of technology as a means of adding value and improving the lives of millions of people.
He said “we are at a point where technology is important for making a difference in the lives of the people”.
To him, critical areas where technological solutions can be applied to help low level subsistence farmers, small, micro and medium.
The Vice President however noted that “the challenge is how to ensure that these initiatives and innovations will benefit the majority of the people”.
While commending the initiative to engage with the Global Good in the effort, the Vice President charged the partners to ensure that measurable targets are set in order that tangible results can be achieved.
“I think we should be able to set targets, to have useful interaction in terms of how much we are able to achieve; this target should be on a scale, for instance, in the next one or two years. It should be based on measurable targets to keep our focus”, Prof. Osinbajo explained stressing that “at the end of the day, it will mean we’ve impacted so many millions of people”.
Speaking earlier, Mr. David Keogh, the Director of Global Good Fund, who signed the MoU on behalf of his organisation and led the Fund’s delegation, said the Fund is on a social mission to deploy technology in the area of agriculture and healthcare that will impact many people in Nigeria.
He stated that the company was working in collaboration with other multi-lateral agencies, non-profit organisations and governments,to identify challenges in different value chains and provide technological solutions to them.
