In a bid to attract capital inflow into Nigeria’s digital economy sector, Honourable Minister, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani travelled to Wales and Sweden where he engaged extensively with private and public sector officials to identify areas of collaboration and investment opportunities in Nigeria’s fast-growing technology ecosystem.

Dr. Tijani, who arrived in Sweden on May 2, 2024 on the invitation of the Swedish government, took part in a series of meetings to explore investment partnerships with both government and private sector players with a focus on innovation, connectivity, research and digital technologies. 

While in Sweden, the Honourable Minister attended a roundtable meeting with Team Sweden at the country’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs where he was received on arrival by the State Secretary for Trade, Håkan Jevrell. He was later hosted to a luncheon by Johan Forssell, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, who formally welcomed the Honourable Minister to Sweden and highlighted Nigeria’s strategic importance to his country, especially in the area of technology startup and innovation. 

In his address at the luncheon, Dr. Tijani expressed his appreciation to Mr. Forsell and Amb. Annika Hahn-Englund, Sweden’s Ambassador to Nigeria, for the invitation and warm reception, while highlighting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s key economic reforms and initiatives geared at transforming infrastructure in Nigeria, including the $2 billion fibre fund for connectivity which would be a backbone for our digital economy.

One of the highlights of the Honourable Minister’s visit was a whistle-stop at the global headquarters of the Swedish telecoms giant, Ericsson where he was taken on a tour of the Imagine Studio to see their ongoing investment in future technology solutions including 6G technology prototypes while also highlighting the growing demand for semiconductors in the sector. 

While speaking on his visit, Dr. Tijani said: “In the last 8 months, we have placed a lot of emphasis on 4 of the 5 pillars in our Ministry’s Strategic Blueprint and these have laid the foundation for us to activate initiatives under our Trade pillar. On the invitation of Sweden’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Annika Hahn-Englund, I have spent the last few days in Stockholm, together with key officials of my Ministry, in a series of constructive discussions with Swedish government officials and private sector to deepen our already strong relationship as their second largest trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Sweden is home to the second largest concentration of unicorns in the world and boasts a strong heritage of innovation, so there is a lot of opportunity for collaboration and support for our initiatives as we work to accelerate the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy,” he added.