Bosun Tijani, the tech entrepreneur and co-founder of CcHub, has been selected as Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy.
As a tech expert, his appointment is expected to bring valuable experience to the industry. The appointment also requires more than a tech startup, which may be quite challenging for him.
Tijani’s experience as a tech expert cuts across academics and industry. He transformed CcHub from a local tech space to a pan-African tech incubator that is empowering youths across the continent. He also spearheads milestone events with the likes of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg in Nigeria.
However, Tijani, who is seen as an alien by key players in the telecom industry has a few matters to attend to. For instance, he had to apologize for his past critical tweet during the Senate ministerial screening. He also has to understand the ministerial system as well as build cordial relationships with politicians and civil servants even when their views and opinions contradict.
Tijani will have to work with companies that provide digital economy infrastructures such as telecoms, data centres, cable providers, satellite internet and logistics companies. He also needs to deal with digital economy parastatals such as NIPOST, NITDA, NCC etc. He must strike a balance between the tech ecosystem and the parastatals.
Tijani’s appointment will be quite challenging because he has to adapt to the new system. However, his expertise is expected to bring development into the tech industry.
