$53bn Facebook’s Zuckerberg enters Nigeria quietly

Last week, all of $53 billion on two legs, the founder and chief executive officer of the global brand, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, literally strolled into Nigeria quietly. There was no prior announcement but by the nature of what has now made him the sixth richest person in the world, it was bound to start trending. And trending it surely did. The buzz over the internet could be heard across the country, but it was in the Nigerians major cities of Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Benin City, Ibadan and Enugu, where the tech types and want to congregate that the noise was loudest.

In Lagos where he stayed and engaged in a number of activities, it was the sight of this $53billion man on two legs walking the streets of Yaba, Lagos without any shadow of pronounced security escorts and a the morning after jogging on Lagos’s own San Francisco-like Lekki bridge, that stole the thunder. He traveled to Kenya briefly, but
returned to Nigeria to continue his visit, meeting with government officials including President Mohammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Officially, the objectives of making Nigeria his first African visit basically was to meet with developers and partners and also explore how the software creative entrepreneurs market is evolving here. In Facebook speak, this is what a facebooker will describe with these words: “Yeah, that’s cool.” Indeed, it is. It’s a recognition by one of the world’s most popular man that Nigeria matters; it matters not only for the now, but for the future. Things are indeed happening and with Zuckerberg spending a lot of time with young people, you can bet that the heartbeat of Nigeria is with the youths of today, not with Nigeria’s old generation who are conflicted about how to move the
country forward.

Zuckerberg, whose Facebook platform for connectivity is valued at $350 billion, truly added colour on this his first visit to Nigeria by that singular act of his free movements within the streets of Lagos and savouring African delicacies. It was a signature endorsement of the freedom that visitors could enjoy in many parts of Nigeria.
His whole activities in Nigeria is a strong message to international investors and tourists that despite the often exaggerated negative tags on African countries, including Nigeria, of militancy and disease ravaged countries, it is just a blanket label. His actions and comments, indeed, showed Nigeria to be a beautiful country with good
food and hospitable people.

The feel-at- home that Zuckerberg, who introduced Facebook in 2006 when he was just 21, enjoyed in Nigeria reinforces the message that the world is yet to embrace, which is that Nigeria, avery significant country to the world, has unique cultural architecture and friendly and hard working people, which Zuckerberg really acknowledged.

Sometimes, in order to rubbish others and claim perfection, some foreign countries wake up to warn their citizens against traveling to some African countries as if they (the foreign countries) are immune to those reasons such as kidnapping, killings and criminal activities for the warning.

Irked by such recent warning by USA to its citizens and subsequent publication of the reports by the local media, minister of Communication, Lai Mohammed expressed dissatisfaction to such warning of its citizens against travelling to 20 Nigerian states due to risk of kidnapping, robberies and other armed attack.

He said instead, US was the subject of terrorism attacks, as there is no week when a killing is not recorded. “Is there any week they are not killing people in the US by either shooting in schools or driveways, or people committing suicide or mass bombing? How many of these stories do their media celebrate? If they want to tell their
people not to come to Nigeria, it is not for us to help them propagate it.”
With his visit to hinterlands and other activities, Zuckerberg proved to the world that Nigeria is a place to be. “Here in Lagos, I just don’t want to sit down with people and community but sit down with developers and entrepreneurs.

The reason for that is there is energy here in Nigeria, it is felt once one gets off the plane and the world needs to see that and believe”.

“Here in Lagos, things are changing quickly as the economy is shifting from resource based to entrepreneurial and knowledge based economy and the entrepreneurs and developers are the ones leading in that change”.

Further answering a question on his passion for Nigeria where there about 18 million Facebook users, Zuckerberg said “what is striking is the entrepreneurial energy. Most Nigerians I talk to showed how zeal and determination they have. I don’t care what field you are in or the job you do, what is important is not only the vision but the drive,
passion and hard work”.

Zuckerberg who had traditional Nigerian food, visited Nollywood production firms said it is a new Nigeria where 18 million people use Facebook. It is a biggest country for us in Facebook. Why I am here not necessarily focused on entrepreneurs and developers but this is where Africa’s a lot of future would be built.

Ime Archibong, Facebook’s Director of Global Product Partnerships who was quite delighted engaging his people on entrepreneurship ecosystem said at the meeting with the entrepreneurs that the developers have high energy and they are entrepreneurial. “For us it is an opportunity to listen and learn”.
Our mission is to connect to the world and get people the power to share. For the fact that there are about 170 million Nigerians and only 60 million on the internet does not sit well with us. That 18 million Nigerians on the Facebook means that we need to serve more community. We have much to do here to ensure that more Nigerians are connected, Ime said.
On how Facebook is assisting the economy, Ime said “we can build tools for SMEs and anyone who is an entrepreneur developer. Our focus is to help people build great businesses, help them grow the business and help them monetize the businesses and that is about the economy growth.

 

Daniel Obi