The Swedish ambassador to Nigeria, Anna Westerholm, has called for deeper Nordic-Nigerian partnerships and long-term ecosystem building as Nigeria accelerates its digital transformation.

She made the call on Wednesday in Enugu at the ongoing 2026 Enugu Tech Festival. The festival brought together participants from academia, the innovation community, policymakers, and captains of industry.

Ms Westerholm led the Nordic delegation, which joined the Danish consul general in Lagos alongside several Nordic companies to explore investment and collaboration opportunities in Nigeria’s innovation space.

The ambassador noted that the festival reflected imagination, ambition, and momentum. According to her, the Nordic delegation does not attend merely as observers but to actively explore partnerships in renewable energy, innovation, ecotourism, and digital development.

She described the tech festival as one of Nigeria’s emerging platforms for innovation and digital transformation, where “policy meets entrepreneurship” and “talent meets opportunity”.

Highlighting Nigeria’s strengths, the ambassador said the country’s ingenuity, resilience, and youthful population represented a strategic advantage in the global digital economy.

Ms Westerholm, however, stressed that investments in digital skills, cybersecurity, innovation ecosystems, and public-private partnerships must be treated as “strategic imperatives” rather than supportive measures.

Drawing from the Nordic experience, she emphasised that innovation was a culture shaped by institutional stability, regulatory predictability, digital readiness, and strong collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Sweden, she noted, was home to globally recognised companies such as Spotify, King, and Ericsson. According to her, despite being just 10 million people, the country was consistently ranked among the world’s leaders in startup success per capita.

She attributed Sweden’s achievements not only to technology but to openness, stable institutions, and a belief that technology must serve society.

She cautioned, however, that innovation models from cities such as Stockholm and Copenhagen cannot be simply replicated in Nigeria. She urged Nigeria to adapt global best practices to local realities rather than copy foreign systems wholesale.

The ambassador noted that artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics, biotechnology, and clean energy were reshaping global competitiveness, but warned that technology alone does not determine outcomes.

Addressing young innovators at the festival, she encouraged discipline, integrity, and persistence, telling them they were already shaping today’s digital economy and did not need permission to lead.

(NAN)