 You're welcome back. One of the fastest growing businesses or developments in any community now is tech. And when you look around, the tech community, rather, is growing in Nigeria even, but there still are very many challenges that the people in that industry are facing. And so today we're going to be talking with a tech expert and his name is Kenechuku Oddaje. Kenechuku, good morning and welcome to the run-up. Good morning. Thank you for having me. It's good to be talking with a tech expert and quality assurance engineer. Now, we know that tech is a growing trend. Tech is what we now depend on for a lot of things. Tell us more about the future of tech in the Nigerian economy, for instance. The Nigerian economy has a great future when it comes to technology developments. Having in mind our growing population, which is now over 200 million, so we have the human capacity and we have the able hands to drive this technology development and innovations to a greater height. Okay, so sometimes when people talk about tech and the need to develop it, the need to develop that sector of our economy or whatever, they talk about the challenges that are faced by people who want to venture into that. Can you please throw more light on some of these challenges that people in that industry face in Nigeria? Oh, there are lots of challenges when it comes to technology and technology developments in Nigeria. We can talk about the challenging environment itself. The power electricity, the access to, there is no access to funds or internet quality. And also lack of, not lack of, but energy privates, IT infrastructure. These are major challenges. When you talk about IT infrastructure, what do you mean? In the space of information technology development. Yeah, you say IT infrastructure, what do you really mean by IT infrastructure? So, IT infrastructure development is having the infrastructure that can accommodate a huge number of technological and structuralists. In a period of time, whether in a day, in a week, in a month, what's having that capacity to handle digital transactions, whether it's at the pain of tax level, at the corporate, at face commission level. I mean, our IT solutions that we as citizens of Nigeria use that would involve millions of Nigerians accessing this solution, accessing this software solution. We need to provide an infrastructure that can accommodate huge transactions. Give us some of the examples of what you mean. Give us some of the examples of what you mean. Okay, looks like I mentioned. I mean, for instance, maybe you're trying to access a computer phase commission portal for an example and the response to this software solution could be slow. So we need to look into how we can improve the infrastructure. I'm just seeing this as an illustration. There are also different sectors where this has to take place. So we need to improve the capacity of these infrastructures to accommodate daily digital transactions. When I mean transactions, it could be performing any operation, but it's drive to digital. Well, tech is one of the sectors of our economy that has grown more or less without the help of government, as it were, but when you begin to mention the challenges, are you placing these challenges at the doorstep of the government or private sector? Where do you think the solutions to these problems that are faced by the tech industry coming from or should come from? I mean, the government can do a whole lot when it comes to IT development infrastructure. Just like I mentioned in the challenges earlier, we have a challenging environment. It's a non-factual. We have a challenging environment. So first, we have to understand that we need to have an enabling environment. There are several tech startups. For instance, in Lagos, there are some frustrating processes of conducting business, maybe we're having a stiffling policies from the government, and it's affecting the tech startup. So with this challenging environment, if the government can make the environment, the technology ecosystem to be less challenging and make unsimplified processes, we can solve those challenging environment problems. And secondly, I talked about poor electricity. We need constant electricity. Inadequate electricity is another major problem faced by so many tech firms in Nigeria, and it affects solutions, developments, and what have you in the information technology space. Then I made mention of access to funding. People have innovative ideas, but they would want to have fundings to promote their solution, their innovative ideas. And the countries that we have seen in the past that have tried this information technology like China and the rest leveraged on innovation. And the government participated by helping, providing funds for innovation and research, because research that gives pets to innovation. So in a country where there are no fundings for research, innovation will be hindered. So access to funding, it's a major, a major, it will be a major advantage for the government if the tech ecosystem can actually have that. Then like I mentioned earlier, also I spoke about poor internet quality. So having cheap and fast product internet nationwide would be, if with great value, just imagine like having like 100-star link servicing every local government in Nigeria. So I mean, with all of this, if all of this are implemented, we would have a great information technology ecosystem in our country, which in turn will impact our economy and drive our economy to our expectation. I don't know how much you have followed the manifestos of the politicians, especially those who are vying for the office of the president in Nigeria. If you have any takeaways from what the manifestos have said, what they have said about the tech or technological advancement in Nigeria, are you comfortable with what any of them has said so far about the development of technology in Nigeria? Of course, yes, I have. I mean, everybody mentioned technology, innovation and improvements in their own administration, but we are tending to look into the practical aspect of all that has been said. And I believe personally that we are all waiting to see it happen, to see the implementation itself in the practical sense. We have been seeing improvement in technology in the previous manifestos in the past, but right now we are all just waiting to see this being implemented, because like I said, it is a major tool for economic development and improvements. Okay, well, as a tech expert, I'd like to ask you this, because a lot of people have placed their fate on the beavers that is going to be used by INAIC, or that has been used and will continue to be used by INAIC, especially in the forthcoming elections. It started in Oshun and Kiti and all that. So how much confidence do you have in the beavers? I'm talking to you as a tech person now, because some people fear it could be hacked. Some people fear that it might not give us the kind of results that we want. The free and fair elections that we want may not come because of the beavers, but a lot of us are speaking from a layman's point of view. So as a tech expert, how much confidence do you have in the beavers for giving us, or as a tool that will give us a better election than the ones we have witnessed in the past? Okay, as a tech engineer, we have improved from what we used to have in the past. So I have so much trust and believe in the credibility of what has been done so far. We have improved from where we used to be. So I think we would have accurate results with the technology that has been proved for this exercise. Okay, well, it's good to know from someone who is a tech expert that it is good enough because when we begin to argue back and forth and say beavers may not be that game changer that we want, when we hear words like this, it's really assuring to all of us. Everything that you have said leads to the fact that the next government should have policies in place that will make it easy for the tech to flourish in our country, Nigeria. But let's just as a way of re-emphasizing it, just take it one in summary. What kind of policies do you want from the next government that is coming that will make tech in your own perspective to grow more than it is growing now? You have said all these things, but just re-emphasize briefly. So speaking to the government policies, I mean, I'll speak in general. So the government needs to be consistent. It's most especially the regulating policies that would encourage tech firms for a change. So there are regulatory policies that can hamper the tech space. So if we have regulatory policies that are friendly, the tech space can thrive. For instance, if getting a license to have like a fintech, the government should look into it and know what needs to be done to reduce what is being paid and also regulation in terms of, I mean, because consistently, we have improved in terms of career service, most especially in Lagos as a state. But at the end of the day, we have policies that look as if it's not tried and in the essence that so much profits are not being made by the people that brought this innovation. So I'm looking forward to the regulatory policies that can be friendly that would improve the tech space. Okay, well, can I... There are policies around regulation. Okay. Well, can I ask who it's been a pleasure having you and the confidence you have restored in us that the BVAS will work and your call on the next government to work around the issue of regulation and also making money available for start-ups and all that. It's good enough. And I'm very sure people who are the powers that we are listening to you right now, let's hope that after the election of 2023 and the next administration comes, all the solutions that you have profiled here will be looked into. Thank you so much for coming on the program. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. All right. Well, we've been talking with Kenetsu Kuu Oddaji, who is a tech expert and also a quality assurance engineer and he's been talking with us about the future of tech and what needs to be done to make sure that sector of economy flourishes.