The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has reiterated the state government’s commitment to transforming Edo into a digital hub, ensuring increased growth and productivity for residents by leveraging the ongoing technological revolution in the state.
Obaseki, who described the ongoing tech revolution as a giant subnational tiger that cuts across Edo into transforming the African economy. He commended the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for laudable partnerships and collaborations in driving the state to enviable heights in technological advancement.
Obaseki made this known while receiving the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation team during the Edo State Digital Policy Project’s flag-off on Friday, 7th July 2023, at the Edo State Government House, Benin City.
Obaseki says, “We are very pleased and excited at the level of collaboration between the Edo State Government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I believe your coming here today must be the third engagement or visit this year alone, and we must have had almost six encounters. So, you know, we interact with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation almost every month on one project or another.
“I also want to thank the state government for facilitating the trip to Kenya to attend the Continental Digital ID Conference, which was very illuminating. I am emphasizing the appreciation because the more we think about the digital space we are creating, the more we now understand the value of what you are bringing to us in Edo State, that it is beyond money.
“You are helping us launch this giant subnational tiger for the continent into greatness for the next couple of generations. So, we are very grateful that we have you as our partners, and we intend to continue to collaborate and work with you so that mutually, we would demonstrate and show the world that also, Africa has something to offer to the world in the new digital space.”
“As a government, we have deliberately mainstreamed ourselves into the digital economy because today, the world is about artificial intelligence and machine learning. The world has moved, and if we are going to participate in a global economy, then we must begin to retool our systems and processes to be able to be part of the world”, Obaseki added.
Governor Obaseki, while highlighting laudable strides made so far by his administration in driving development in the technological sector of the state, prioritized institutional reforms as a major driver and an instrument of change through which they will transform all other sectors and areas of the state.
