21st Century Nigerian Businesspeople

"So, I was convinced that Shuttlers would work, even though everyone around me had doubts. They tried convincing me otherwise, but I didn’t listen. I had a clear conviction that Shuttlers was the way to go."

"The best way to handle doubt is to try out those things you are scared of by starting small. When you try and see the result, it fuels your conviction, you learn, and it helps you improve. Adversity is a faith and muscle builder; it makes you stronger and forces you out of your comfort zone. So, I welcome it with an open mind and see it as an opportunity to learn and create value."

"The real test of modern leadership is whether boards can harness the technological power of AI without surrendering judgment, empathy and accountability."

"In an age of algorithms, the most enduring competitive advantage is not computational speed, but human discernment."

"We’re not here to compete with men but compliment men because women bring a completely different skillset to the board room."

"Put people first and the governance follows."

"Sustainable excellence is not built on technology alone. It emerges from the interplay of intellect with integrity, innovation with empathy."

"When you look at the use of connected technologies in mining, it is saving lives: making mines a lot more precise in their daily operations, and helping miners to use resources more sustainably."

"I think we are forgetting opportunities that exist as well and are very important. *The next conversation that we need to be having is about the link between connectivity and prosperity in developing countries."

"What we are doing in the meantime, however, is investing in what we have called the Broadband Alliance. The Broadband alliance is focused on enhancing the existing infrastructure that we have in the country, which is about 35,000 kilometers of optic fiber network. We have a government-owned satellite — the only one in the West African region — which allows us to connect difficult-to-reach locations. One of the projects we started in the first three months of our appointment was the deployment of connectivity to all local government secretariats across Nigeria — all 774 of them"

"When people have a clearer understanding of artificial intelligence, they can better protect themselves instead of relying on laws to do so alone — laws must be there to support it, but individuals must also be well educated about this phenomenon."

"We need to do a good job at investing in our infrastructure, to train more people to have a strong workforce and to have a decent set of policies for the digital economy. Otherwise, there is going to be a limit to how much gains we can get out of all the investments that we have made."

"If you look at what connectivity is doing in security, it allows to govern previously ungoverned spaces, it is even useful to manage forestry or farms."

"There is a long term initiative that we are currently working on, which aims to bridge the gap between city and rural area: the fiber fund. It is a $2 billion fund to expand our current backbone from 35,000 kilometers to 125,000 kilometers. In other words, we are investing in 90,000 kilometers of fiber optic network across the country."

"Having an example of farmers being able to livestream their products and thus selling directly to consumers is very inspiring."

"A lot of the young people are digital natives and of course you still find a lot of vulnerable young people, but the slightly older folks are the ones who are the most vulnerable."

"Africa cannot remain as consumers, we need to grow into producers of solutions, “With the design lab, we are looking to deepen our work, to allow us support the smart application of technology especially for prosperity across multiple countries."

"All these opportunities are limited for developing countries if we only focus on connecting people to people."

"Technology is becoming a major part of nearly all that we do as humans. We are beginning to see how it is facilitating access to services and increasing productivity: many businesses are now completely relying on it."

"Most of the time, civil society organizations tend to narrowly focus on policing the government. However, the digital economy is so robust that the people we need to police are beyond the government — as most of the time the government does not have the capability to use technology."

"To sum it up: in the North, people are scared of losing their jobs because of AI. In our case, we are creating more jobs with it."

"Beyond just a tour, we want to build strong presence in the Bay Area."

"We are still limited to connectivity between people, connecting people to people."

"However, that is a long term initiative and it is not going to connect those people in the next year or two. We expect that such a project will probably take about three to five years to be completed."

"We tend to forget that connectivity is also about connecting things to things, and people to things, and that is what is responsible for the prosperity that we are beginning to see in a number of sectors globally."

"Within the community, we want people to be able to work together and generate new knowledge — whether on the application of AI in critical sectors or for critical services in Nigeria."

"Our size will become a major part of us being able to invest in startups, and the longer we stay invested the more we will start to see significant returns and exits."

"Focusing on connecting people to others is not sufficient."

"We found the case of the Chinese farmers extremely inspiring because when people talk about connectivity, they talk about connecting people but it is somehow abstract or difficult to actually picture cases of how this investment in connectivity leads to important economic opportunities for individuals. In China, the government is ensuring that farmers in rural areas have access to quality connectivity solutions."

"Nigeria can convert crypto activity into measurable value by formalizing the ecosystem through licensing, reporting standards and financial integration."

"Proper licensing protects consumers by enforcing minimum standards for custody, security, transparency and operational conduct, while providing clear legal recourse."

"When tax rules are clear, proportional, and applied through licensed entities, compliance becomes simple and natural."

"Risks do not kill startups. More often, they are undone by a lack of focus emanating from founders chasing too many ideas, teams pivoting without direction and the obsession with vanity metrics over genuine product-market fit."

"If crypto is coherently integrated into Nigeria’s formal financial system, the benefit would ripple across multiple sectors. The most immediate gains would be seen in fintech, payments, SMEs and the broader digital economy. Crypto infrastructure reduces settlement friction, enables programmable finance and opens alternative funding pathways for businesses."

"Nigeria does not need to replicate any model wholesale, instead, we need a locally grounded framework that aligns with global standards while reflecting domestic realities."

"Ambition is a beautiful thing, but it can quietly rob you of the joy in the present moment"

"If you’re building something, chasing something, remember: it's okay to rest in the moment. You’re living the part of the story you once dreamed about."

"Beyond revenue, crypto offers Nigeria a strategic opportunity to build human capital and exportable digital expertise. It supports high-skill job creation in blockchain engineering, cybersecurity, compliance, data analytics and financial education."

"I’m excited about what lies ahead, and I hope our paths cross again in the future."

"I am not a lawyer but if keep quiet to some certain things it means that you are in agreement to all those things."

"The legislature just like any other thing is evolving, graduating and maturing and in doing that, it is coming up with quality legislations better ways of handling issues and ensuring that there is amicable, understanding between the three tiers of government."

". I believe that everything that happens in one’s life is for a purpose. For those of us who believe in Jesus Christ, I believe it was the way it was destined for me."

"A day begins a story"

"These laws that we have made, all we need do is to ensure that between we the lawmakers and executive the implementers and of course, the judiciary, the interpreters to ensure that there is a harmonious relationship amongst the tripod."

"You do not know the price of stability until you have been faced with either breakups or uncontrollable situations that could affect the unity of this country."

"My confidence is that he’s been somebody who has been tried and tested at some point and found diligent and also found acceptable."

"It gets better as I get older, just like good wine."

"Maturity has a lot to do with the mind and intelligent."

"Good people of Garkida will forever remember the nice Senate. The senate are aware that on the 21st February 2020, an insurgent group attack the good people of Garkida, a peaceful town in Gombi local government area of Adamawa Central Senatorial District. The insurgents in over seven gun trucks and many motorcycles attacked the town at about 7:00pm, setting many buildings ablaze. Also aware that three soldiers are killed in the deadly attack. Properties worth millions of Naira were burnt or destroyed including public hospitals, schools, telecommunication facilities, police stations, buses, cars, food stores, private properties belonging to the good people of Garkida. Worrying that the Garkida crisis which has led to the destruction of lives and properties were planned by the insurgents to have a religious connotation considering that churches and residences of some prominent indigenes are burnt. And at aim of destroying the foundation of peaceful co-existence Garkida community and Adamawa State at large..."

"Timbuktoo is the heartland of Civilization of Commence and Knowledge."