Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele has urged Nigerian public institutions and businesses to prioritise locally produced goods and services, particularly software, hardware and digital infrastructure, saying the approach can reduce costs while improving quality.
Push for Nigerian digital infrastructure
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Speaking on Monday during a visit to Galaxy Backbone in Abuja, Oyedele said supporting products and services made in Nigeria should be treated as a national responsibility. He said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was deliberately placing local production and procurement at the centre of his economic agenda.
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The minister called on public and private investors to consider Nigerian providers when developing technology systems and other digital assets. He said local digital infrastructure and services were often more affordable and delivered better results than imported alternatives.
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Oyedele identified the digital economy as one of the government’s key growth sectors and said investment in it was closely linked to the wider drive to buy and build in Nigeria. He argued that the country had little justification for failing to develop this area because digital infrastructure was essential to economic progress.
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He said many organisations, including some public bodies but especially private companies, routinely turn to overseas suppliers for information-technology systems, equipment and software without first examining domestic options. At the same time, he pointed to Nigerian organisations that had chosen locally made technology and found that they spent less while receiving higher-quality products.
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Oyedele linked domestic technology procurement to data sovereignty and Nigeria’s ability to compete as a sovereign economy in the future. He urged Galaxy Backbone staff to view their daily work as a national duty and pledged government support, cooperation and efforts to increase the organisation’s impact.
Investment and connectivity
Galaxy Backbone Managing Director Professor Ibrahim Adeyanju said neither the government nor the private sector could expand effectively without reliable connectivity and secure digital systems.
He called for continued investment from both the public and private sectors, warning that government digitisation depends on dependable networks and protected infrastructure. Businesses, he said, cannot grow without digital connectivity, while innovation, artificial intelligence and the broader digital economy also require resilient infrastructure to develop.
