As Nigeria grapples with widespread protests, economic instability, and social unrest, CEO of Sparkle, Uzoma Dozie, has offered a candid assessment of the situation.
Dozie, in an interview with ARISE News on Friday emphasised the critical role of technology in addressing Nigeria’s economic challenges, calling for investments in digital infrastructure, including digital roads, liquidity, and devices, to bridge the gap and prevent future disruptions, as the country grapples with ongoing protests and economic instability.
He urged Nigerian leaders to address the root causes of the crisis and embrace technology-driven solutions to build a more prosperous future.
He noted the need for technology companies to play a role in addressing these challenges.
“How do we do that? This is where technology companies come to play.
“We need to start thinking about digital roads, liquidity, devices to people.
“We need to embrace tech and to look at it from a paradigm shift…digital is beyond scanning documents but about changing your business and thought profile,” he said.
He added that, “Technology redefines the risk, going from physical to digital, my operation risk drops during protests like these, my financing risk increases which is where money is being made from.”
Dozie shared his thoughts on the ongoing protests and economic situation in Nigeria.
He stated, “A lot of Nigerians are angry, and I think they are just voicing out their frustration. Everyone has the right to protest as long as you do not infringe on the rights of other persons.”
Dozie emphasised the need for social development to achieve economic prosperity, saying, “You cannot have economic prosperity without social development,
“So, I think that’s one area we need to look at, the social infrastructure in Nigeria, how do we build it to prevent these kinds of things from happening?”
He also highlighted the impact of the protests on businesses, saying, “Businesses have shut down for a couple of days, whereas a huge percentage of the workforce in Nigeria relies on the income made on a daily basis, and the protest has worsened the situation.”
Dozie called on leadership to address the root causes of the protests, saying, “I think it’s a clarion call to our leadership to start looking at how to prevent protests from happening.
“Though some good works have been done by the government, we need to do better.”
Regarding the vandalism in Kano, Dozie attributed it to a lack of education and leadership, stating, “It’s an education thing, but it’s also a leadership thing.
“We need to look at it from a social infrastructure perspective, especially when you have a country where millions of Nigerians are poor.”
On scaling across the country, Dozie stressed the importance of embracing technology and said, “We need to look at it from a paradigm shift, digital is beyond scanning documents, but about changing your business and thought profile.”
Regarding the FCCPC and WhatsApp issue, Dozie said, “He who comes to equity must come with clean hands.
“Meta must be seen to be complying with the laws of Nigeria, but also, regulators must be fair in the distribution of penalties.
“There should be no sacred cows, so what you do to one, you must do to all.”
He said “The question is, did Meta violate the law? Are these fines applicable, and are others doing the same and escaping? It all boils down to trust and transparency.
“The more transparent our laws and processes are, and the application of justice, the easier it would be.”
He concluded that, “This is not the first jurisdiction where Meta has been seen to violate laws, so why should it be different in Nigeria? It’s just the transparency of the whole process, which I think the FCCPC is trying to portray.'”
Boluwatife Enome
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