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21st Century, US partner on Lekki 'America Corner' to deepen tech ecosystem

Information communication technology (ICT) company, 21st Century Technologies is keying into United States' vision to propel digital transformation and foster digital ecosystem in Nigeria.

The vision got a boost recently,seeing the US unveiled a tech and creative space ' America Corner' in 21st Century's corporate headquarters in Lekki, Lagos.

By this stride, 21st Century becomes one of the 245 centers where the US has established American Corners since 2000.

The center was commissioned by US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken who was joined by CEO of 21st Century Technologies, Wale Ajisebutu.

Blinken said America Corner which now has presence in approximately 60 countries was poised to foster entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity amongst youths.

He explained that US partnership with 21st century was deliberate and aligns with the country's  objective  to advance technology and creativity among Nigerian youths.

21st Century is reputed to be first in Nigeria to have deployed Fibre optics network in 1997 and also pioneered  Nigeria's data centre infrastructure, which has been shaping the country's digital landscape.

Blinken said: "Back in November of 2021, I had an opportunity to come to Nigeria and to talk about building a 21st century partnership, a 21st century partnership with Africa countries, and to move from those questions about what we can do for Africa to a different question, what can we do with Africa.

 “I see this playing out in so many places now as we work together to meet shared challenges that no single one of us can effectively meet alone, and the bottom line, to actually deliver results to our people."

American Corner boasts of resources and facilities like digital studio, workshops, multimedia and tech equipment, among others.

The facilities are made available freely  for  young Nigerians to explore their inventiveness, entrepreneurial, and creative interests.

Commenting on the initiative, Ajisebutu said: "This is a testament of our dedication to tech advancement and of course, our passion for tomorrow's leaders. We have always believed in partnership as a key element of success. We want to be part of Nigeria's  innovation journey to becoming most advanced digital services in Africa and beyond."

The launch of the space was also  witnessed by  government representatives from  both Nigeria and US, including the United States Chargé d’Affaires, David Greene and Consul General in Lagos as well as Nigeria's Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani.

Tijani spoke on Nigeria's moves to  be the next destination for technology.

"We are presently investing in talent, so we want Nigeria to become the next destination of technology talent in the world which is why we are training 3 million of such talents.

"We intend to keep some and also want to become the next exporter of  tech talents to the world.”