Armstrong Takang, the managing director of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, says Nigerians risk losing the wealth created by the digital economy unless they invest in and own technology businesses.

Mr Takang made the assertion on Thursday in Lagos at the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) Nigeria, a forum focused on the intersection of technology, finance and investment. He said that there was a need for greater domestic participation in financing technology companies.

The MOFI boss said that Nigeria had made significant progress in developing its technology ecosystem over the past two decades.

He said, however, that the country risked losing the economic benefits of that growth if Nigerians continued to play a marginal role in financing technology businesses. According to him, Nigeria’s technology development efforts are driven by the recognition that the country cannot remain a mere consumer of digital products and services.

He said that the objective was to build an ecosystem where Nigerian companies could develop software, provide digital services, generate data and deploy technology to grow their businesses.

Mr Takang, however, identified access to capital as a major obstacle, urging Nigerian investors and capital allocators to participate more actively in funding technology businesses, particularly at the pre-seed and early stages.

He said that although some Nigerian technology companies had grown into highly valued businesses, foreign investors often held significant equity positions because they provided much of the capital needed to scale the companies.

“Every time they move up in the rounds, the Nigerian equity has been diluted, and the foreign capital allocators are taking positions in these companies,” the MOFI boss said.

He said that greater domestic participation in early-stage funding would enable Nigerians to retain a larger share of the wealth created when successful companies paid dividends, were acquired or became publicly listed.

Mr Takang said that individuals, institutions and investment managers needed to recognise technology as an investment opportunity, rather than merely a sector for consumption.  He said that MOFI was adopting a more active approach to managing Federal Government investments and assets, rather than treating them as passive holdings.

He said that the ministry was established to manage the federal government’s investments but had historically operated largely as a passive custodian of assets.

Mr Takang cited entities such as Nigeria Airways, NEPA, Nigerian Shipping Lines and NITEL as examples of government investments that had suffered under a passive ownership model.

According to him, the new philosophy is to combine ownership with active stewardship to ensure that government assets are properly managed, productive, profitable and capable of generating wider economic impact.

“Every Nigerian is the owner of the assets that we are managing; government institutions are merely stewards of the assets,” he said.

Mr Takang said the principle made transparency and accountability essential in managing public assets. He said that technology would play a critical role in cataloguing, managing and unlocking the value of government assets.

The MOFI boss said the ministry was creating comprehensive records of government-owned assets, including real estate, infrastructure, and creative-industry assets.

(NAN)