By Bolokale Aliu
Several months after President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the Nigeria Startup Act, NSA, there are worries over non commencement of implementation.
The Act, which promised to transform Nigeria’s tech ecosystem enjoyed a lot of support from the private sector and international development agencies who predicted a game changing legislation particularly for young people.
Surprisingly, the Act which was passed with a lot of engagement and fanfare and was widely celebrated across the country, now seems to have gone into deep hibernation.
Findings at the NSA Secretariat showed that it is unaware of the status, especially as regards implementation.
According to a source, it was only mentioned that:”the Act was now with Honourable Minister Isa Pantami and NITDA as they are expected to lead the implementation based on their role as Secretariat in the Council provisioned in the Act.”
Efforts to reach senior officials at NITDA to comment on the slow pace of the implementation proved abortive. However, there are whispers that some ecosystem players are now convinced due to the current pace that implementation should be postponed to when the new administration takes over. It is deemed that it would provide an opportunity for a more collaborative and robust implementation of the ACT.
Mr Kunle Odeyemi, an Executive Director at Become Change Institute, who played a role in advocating for the Act to be passed said: “If the current administration fails to drive the implementation process, then the next administration is likely to take the credit for all the work that was done. So it is in their best interest to ensure that implementation begins so they can take full credit for their initiative.”