The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, has said the National Assembly is repositioning itself to be a creator of jobs by leveraging digital transformation and targeted legislation to expand opportunities for young Nigerians.
Bamidele stated this on Tuesday while delivering the 37th Convocation Lecture of the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, titled ‘Entrepreneurship Development in the Digital Age: Leveraging Technology for Job Creation’.
Noting that Nigeria needed to harness digital innovation to address unemployment and drive economic transformation, Bamidele declared that the legislature had embraced innovation as a tool for national development.
Bamidele said, ‘The National Assembly is ready to further reposition itself as a digital age job engine. In the way the National Assembly has embraced digital transformation, it will soon become a massive catalyst for employment in Nigeria.
‘By passing forward-looking laws, enforcing digital infrastructure development, promoting inclusive digital skills and modernising governance, it is my strong conviction that the Nigerian Assembly can help create millions of sustainable jobs in tech, services, agriculture and so on’.
He added, ‘In a nutshell, the National Assembly will further legislate for inclusion, invest in innovation, digitise governance and empower the youth for massive exploits in the nation’s digital economy. With these actions, I do not doubt that the National Assembly can turn Nigeria’s digital potential into national prosperity’.
Bamidele noted that technology-driven jobs had the potential to uplift communities and drive economic growth.
‘To this extent, if we leverage technology with purpose, we will create jobs, I mean many jobs and sustainable ones at that. These are jobs that have the capacity to empower Nigerians, uplift communities and contribute to economic transformation’, he said.
Addressing students, entrepreneurs and policymakers, Bamidele urged young Nigerians to take advantage of the opportunities the digital era provides.
He said, ‘My solemn appeal to the young Nigerians with ideas in their notepads, laptops, and mobile phones is that now is your time. The digital age has lowered barriers across the globe. You have access to worldwide customers, remote work possibilities, and online learning platforms. Therefore, you need not wait for permission. I implore you to Start Now.
‘Be bold. Do not be afraid of making mistakes, but be consistent in learning, research, discovery and innovation. Your success will not only be your own, but rather, it will create jobs, it will generate wealth, it will influence your community, and, essentially, it will shape our nation’.
Bamidele stressed that digital entrepreneurship had become essential for Nigeria’s development.
‘It is instructive to note that entrepreneurship development in the digital age is no longer a luxury; it is an imperative for Nigeria. Fortunately, we have an explosively growing youth population, an evolving digital ecosystem and the global momentum. But we must harness it smartly.
‘We must remember that entrepreneurship does not simply create wealth for the few when harnessed well, it multiplies opportunities, builds capacity, strengthens resilience and promotes dignity of work’.
He urged collaboration across government, the private sector and educational institutions.
‘Let us therefore commit, as government, private sector, educational institutions, and as individual entrepreneurs, to seize the moment. May we look back in five years and say, “We chose to act. We leveraged technology. We built jobs. We lifted lives. We empowered Nigeria”‘.
The Senate Leader also emphasised the need to prioritise technical and digital skills from basic to tertiary education.
He said nations that hope to thrive in the new technological age must equip their young people with creativity, innovation, problem-solving and managerial capacity.
‘This is the future we all envisage, this is the future we look forward to, and Nigeria, the supposed giant of Africa, cannot afford to be left behind’.
Bamidele identified critical gaps that must be addressed to unlock digital entrepreneurship, including skills mismatch, early-stage funding challenges, infrastructure deficits, regulatory complexity, socio-economic barriers and the difficulty of scaling businesses nationally.
He said the Federal Government and State Governments must prioritise digital skills training in secondary and tertiary education, and in technical and vocational education programmes.
He added that such training should be complemented with the provision of seed capital and incentives for digital startups.
On the role of the private sector, he said it was imperative for companies to partner with educational institutions to align learning with industry needs, provide internships and invest in regional hubs.
He called on educators to ‘modernise their curricula, remove outdated silos, equip students not just with certificates but with digital competence, entrepreneurial mindset and global-market awareness’.
He also urged young entrepreneurs to remain committed to self-improvement and emerging technologies.
‘Be consistent in learning, research, discovery, innovation and stay current with tech trends such as AI, blockchain, data analytics’, he said.
Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Prof Taiwo Oyedele, urged tertiary institutions to focus on producing innovators rather than certificate holders.
Oyedele, who chaired the occasion, held that the tax reform laws taking effect from 1 January 2026, will open new opportunities for youths in the digital space, as ‘remote work within the global business process outsourcing, as the policy impediments that limited this opportunity in the past have now been removed’.
He added, ‘Institutions like Yaba College of Technology must therefore continue to drive competency-based learning, digital literacy, and innovation ecosystems that encourage young people to build, test, fail, and rebuild again’.
He added that an enabling environment remained crucial.
‘For innovation to thrive, our ecosystem must also evolve: Regulators must enable, not stifle innovation; Government must provide the infrastructure that allows talent to scale from broadband to reliable electricity; Industry must partner with academia to create relevant skills’, Oyedele said.
Speaking, Rector of Yabatech, Dr Ibraheem Abdul, said the institution was fully aligned with Nigeria’s increasing focus on digital transformation as it transitions into a specialised University of Technology and Vocational Training.
‘We are not only preparing our graduates for the future of work, we are equipping them to shape it’, he said.
‘The digital age demands creators, innovators and problem solvers, and today’s conversation challenges all of us to harness emerging technologies for sustainable economic growth’.
Chairman of the Governing Council, Prof Funso Afolabi, emphasised that Nigeria must position itself to harness technological innovation for economic change.
He noted the institution’s efforts to strengthen its curriculum, industry partnerships and research outputs.
‘The Renewed Hope Agenda challenges institutions like ours to rethink traditional learning models and adopt dynamic, technology-driven systems capable of producing innovators, problem-solvers and job creators’.
He added, ‘Today’s lecture offers us an opportunity to deepen the conversation on how technology can drive inclusive growth, reduce unemployment and stimulate sustainable development across Nigeria’.
Dignitaries at the event included the first Rector of Yabatech, Mr George Majekodunmi; seasoned administrator, Mr Tunde Fanimokun; and governing council member, Mr Ebenezer Akinbolade.
