Bill Gates
Speaking at the Youth Innovation Forum in Lagos, Nigeria on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, Bill Gates said Nigerian leaders need to be more committed to improving the healthcare and education sector of the economy.
The event, ‘Advancing Africa: Unleashing the Power of Youth in Science and Innovation,’ was hosted by the Lagos Business School and Co-Creation Hub (CcHub), in partnership with Africa.com and Channels Television.
He said: “Even though Nigerians are still facing many of the challenges I talked about five years ago, and you’re having to contend with economic instability and security threats, I have a lot of faith that your generation will persevere and improve lives throughout Nigeria and beyond.
“Nigeria has one of the biggest youth populations in the world, and it’s growing fast. That represents a lot of potential skills and passion to solve big problems.”
He also noted that for Nigeria to become great, it needs support “starting with a great educational structure.”
“In this capacity, Nigeria has a strong foundation, with some of the best educational and research institutions across the continent. In Africa, Nigeria is a hub for venture capital and financial technology,” he said.
“There are also many exciting innovations in the global pipeline that are going to improve lives here in Nigeria. They’re going to prevent infectious diseases, provide life-saving interventions for mothers and babies, make food more nutritious, and give women more convenient contraception options.
“Down the road, artificial intelligence will be applied in ways that will bring quality healthcare and education to more people.”
“The message that I shared with President Tinubu on Monday, and what I’ll share with other leaders tomorrow, is that they must invest in equitable solutions, and also invest in the people who are working on them.
“Nigeria is full of talented people with a lot of potential. But it can be very hard to fulfill that potential if you don’t have access to the most basic building blocks of life.”
He ended his speech by reiterating that his company will remain committed to the future of Nigeria.
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