Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has formally declared his intentions to run for the country’s 2023 presidential election.

The Minister, who declared his Presidential ambition while addressing a mammoth crowd at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Alor, Idemili-South Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra State on 19th April 2022, stated that he had a ‘burning desire to see a prosperous, united and equitable Nigeria’.

The former governor of Anambra State notified that he was well equipped as an administrator due to his 40 years of experience in the public service, saying he possessed a huge wealth of experience, capacity and energy as well as a large heart to accommodate the differences among Nigerians.

 It would be recalled that Sen. Ngige disclosed a few days ago that God had spoken to him about his presidential ambition and he would declare on Tuesday.

He made the statement when members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) welcomed him at the junction between Anambra and Enugu states.

Speaking on Holy Saturday to the crowd, who had earlier asked him to declare for the presidency, Sen. Ngige informed them that he had consulted and prayed, and God had spoken back to him.

“I want to assure you that the period of Lent ended last night, and throughout the period, we communed with God. We did spiritual exercises and fasted. We talked to God and His Angels and God has talked back to us. God has spoken to me. I want to assure the people that I will not disappoint you. I will speak to you in the language you will understand,” he said.

 According to him, as governor of Anambra for 34 months, he achieved more than those who spent eight years in office, adding he would replicate that at the national level, if given the opportunity.

He said it was a great mistake for people to compare him with Peter Obi and Willie Obiano, noting within the 34 months, he did better than the duo.

He went further to state that he did not only lay the foundation of the new Anambra but built houses, edifices, schools and other facilities in the State, adding that pensions were paid as and when due during his tenure as governor.

“I want to be your ambassador in Nigeria. We will work as we did in Anambra if the Nigerian people give us a chance. I will work as I did in the Senate if Nigerians give us the chance. We will also work as I have been working as a minister of labour and productivity over the years,” he said.

According to Sen. Ngige, he had met all the governors in the South-East zone and they had accepted to support his presidential ambition.

It was indeed laughable and annoying for Sen. Ngige to promise Nigerians that he would replicate what he did as Labour Minister if given the mandate to serve as the country’s President. Was he actually kidding Nigerians?

Under his watch as Labour and Employment Minister, it has unabated been one ugly story or the other as regards issues pertaining to labour in Nigeria.

Since he assumed duty as Minister, the staff of the various tertiary institutions in the country have invariably embarked on industrial actions. As I write, the same set of workers are still on strike, yet nothing tangible is being done by the government to resolve the unending impasse.

Ngige may have other expensive jokes to crack concerning his presidential ambition, but he ought to desist from reminding the electorate that he is the current Minister of Labour in the country as he goes about campaigning for victory.

Google has continued to implement its digital transformation investment plan in Africa. The web search giant has been picking different African countries to establish each of the initiatives tied to the transformation plan.

On Tuesday, Google announced the launch of a product development center in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital – its first in the continent. The new hub is designed to build “transformative” products and services for the African market and the world.

The center is Google’s second major research and development investment in Africa.

The burgeoning African fintech has further exposed digital opportunities in the African tech ecosystem that Google appears to be positioning itself for its digital economic boom. By 2030, Africa will have 800 million internet users and one-third of the world’s under-35 population.

In 2019, Google launched the first AI and research center in Ghana. In October last year, the tech giant announced plans to invest $1 billion in Africa over the next five years. It will focus on four key areas; enabling affordable access to the internet and building products for every kind of African user, helping businesses with their digital transformation, investing in entrepreneurs to spur next-generation technologies and supporting nonprofits working to improve lives across Africa.

Google said it will hire over 100 tech talent including software engineers, researchers and designers over the next two years to help solve difficult and technical challenges, such as improving the smartphone experience for people in Africa, or building a more reliable internet infrastructure, according to Google VP for products, Suzanne Frey.

There is growing interest in Africa from American tech giants, who, in the past five years, have been setting up digital and innovative hubs across the continent. Lagos, Johannesburg, Accra and Nairobi are all getting their investment share.

Two weeks ago, Visa announced that it had set up its first innovation center in Nairobi, to co-create payment and commerce solutions with partners. This came shortly after Microsoft launched a research and development center in Nairobi.

“Africa has been at the forefront of innovation, and we believe that we are going to continue to develop and innovate right here from the continent,” said Google’s policy lead for Sub-Saharan Africa Charles Murito.

Google said it plans to continue building partnerships, products and services to get more people connected to the internet, support small and medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations.

“We have 300 million people on the internet in the region [Africa] today. We also know that in the course of the rest of this decade, we’re going to have another half a billion people who will experience internet for the very first time, which is why it is incredibly important that we build products and experiences that are helpful to these people that are going to be experiencing the internet just in Africa,” said Google in Africa managing director, Nitin Gajria.

Africa’s internet economy is expected to leap 56% to $180 billion in gross merchandise value by 2025, buoyed by massive digital transformation. This is as the world pushes to sustain the pandemic-spurred shift to digital life.