The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, has said that Ogun State will emerge as Nigeria's Silicon Valley in the future due to its Information Technology (IT) initiatives in all sectors of the economy.

Prof. Pantami disclosed this in Abeokuta, during a courtesy visit with members of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), to the State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, acknowledging the giant strides recorded in all sectors, particularly the digital economy.

The Minister said the Prince Dapo Abiodun-led government’s commitment to IT development in Nigeria through activities of Ogun State TechHuB was attracting more investors, saying “ the State will emerge as the Silicon Valley of this country in the nearest future".

He noted the contributions of IT in raising the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of many economically viable countries, urging the State not to relent and continue to remain a reference for other States, pledged the support of his Ministry together with the Nigeria Computer Society.

In his remarks, the President, NCS, Prof. Simeon Sodiya, said the visit was to intimate the Governor of the organisation’s international conference, scheduled to hold in the State capital.

Prof. Sodiya lauded the State government for its ingenuities in using IT to drive governance, especially in land administration, finance, ICT hub, and jobs portal, among others.

Responding, Governor Abiodun, who underscored the importance of IT to national development, pointed out that his administration had used the digital advantage to come up with Learners’ Certificate Numbers, Digital Curriculum and other infrastructure in the education sector.

He said "the Governor's Challenge", an initiative introduced at the Ogun Tech Hub was to identify the best brain in ICT and also a platform to divert youths with IT knowledge from using it in a negative form.

According to the Governor, "We are using IT in every sector of our economy. We used IT called “OgunTeach” to reach out to our children during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have used it to advertise in the global market, you can buy ‘Adire’ anywhere in the world now. We are also working towards having internet facilities in all government offices in the State and many more".

Prince Abiodun while commending the Society for choosing the State for its conference, charged them to come up with programmes that would make knowledge of the computer accessible to all Nigerians.