Tinubu appoints CcHUB’s 'Bosun Tijani as minister of digital economy

Two weeks after he was named a minister-designate, CcHUB’s co-founder and CEO 'Bosun Tijani has been appointed as Nigeria's minister of communications, innovation, and digital economy. This is according to a list published by the Nigerian Television Authority, a Nigerian government-owned broadcaster.

'Bosun will be leading the ministry which was established by the Nigerian government to facilitate ICT as a key tool in the transformation agenda for Nigeria in the areas of job creation, economic growth, and transparency of governance.

The mandates of the ministry include:

• Facilitating universal, ubiquitous, and cost-effective access to communications infrastructure throughout the country.
• Promoting the utilisation of ICT in all spheres of life to optimize the communications infrastructure – digital content creation, domestic software applications, and the delivery of private and public services over the internet.
• Promoting and facilitating the development of the ICT industry and increasing the contribution of the ICT industry to GDP.
• Utilize ICT to drive transparency in governance and improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of public service delivery in Nigeria.

Who is 'Bosun Tijani?

After his elementary and secondary education, 'Bosun Tijani bagged a diploma in Computer Science and B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Jos between 1996 and 2002. In 2003, Tijani joined the Lagos Business School, Accenture, and Junior Achievement for an MBA Course, Venture in Management.

Between 2006 and 2007, he went to Warwick Business School for an MSc in Information Systems and Management. Tijani also did an executive program in Innovation for Economic Development at the Harvard Kennedy School. He also holds a doctorate degree in Innovation and Economic Development from the University of Leicester.

In December 2010, Tijani co-founded  CcHUB with Femi Longe. The hub is described as “Nigeria’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space designed to be a multi-functional, multi-purpose space”. CcHub was where Tijani hosted Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2016, a visit he initiated. This was Zuckerberg's first time in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.

Two months ago, he moderated a conversation with Bill Gates during his visit to Nigeria, as part of the Pan-African Youth Innovation Forum 2023.

Across Africa, CcHUB boasts of a network of more than 1100 startups who can trace their roots to the hub's innovation-focused programs and interventions, more than 7,300 direct jobs created by its portfolio companies, 35,000+ indirect jobs have been created by portfolio companies through their value chain, more than $10,000,000 invested in direct startups by CcHUB and over $150 million in external funding attracted by the startups in their portfolio.