FG promises protection of intellectual property, investment
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according to the vice president we understand how dynamic the environment is both technology and creative arts. but we think that the way to go will be to work with those who are actually in the industry those like yourselves who are putting in their money their resources time and energy into this and trying to do our regulations in such a way that we are competitive practically with anyone else in the world1 by laolu akande1 they came in impressive numbers for two full days to listen and assess investment opportunities in nigeria and also asked questions1 from the silicon valley for instance well over twenty core american investors in technology spent hours on monday afternoon interacting with the nigerian delegation led by the vice president alongside others including industry trade1 top among the us investors were tim kendall a us investor who worked with facebook monetization and has led pinterest headquartered in san francisco valued at about 12b1 pinterest is a web and mobile application company that operates a software system designed to discover information on the world wide web mainly using images and on a shorter scale gifs and videos. pinterest has reached 200 million monthly active users as of september 20171 others who attended the investment summit in silicon valley included representatives of streetedge capital a bay area california multi-billion dollar family partnership with global footprints including holdings in the us india and africa1 there were also others including chika nwobi and tom terbell partners from rise capital a private equity firm specializing in early venture and later stage investments. it seeks to invest in the internet enabled sector in emerging markets. the multi-million dollar investment firm is also based in san francisco california1 in the same vein prof. osinbajo also visited the headquarters of linkedin where he held a meeting with the co-founder of linkedin allen blue and other senior executives of the company at its headquarters in california1 the vice president later featured as the special guest at the firms fireside chat with a room packed full of nigerians in diaspora which was also streamed live to a global audience1 the next day the vice president and his delegation drawn mainly from the advisory group on technology innovation and creativity an arm of the national industrial competitiveness council moved over to los angeles right in hollywood and met with an impressive array of entertainment chieftains and investors in the us1 they included top hollywood executives like mark viane of paramount pictures steven odell of sony pictures kieran breen karen mbanefo and bryan song of 20th century fox betty lee of lions gate craig dehmel and shehu garba from imax entertainment monique esclavissat of warner bros mary ann hughes from walt disney john fithian from the national association of theater owners and ryan gibson of bet international among others. there were also representatives from fox network universal studios etc1 also at the forum from the nigerian delegation were renowned names in the film music1 it would be recalled that the vice president on monday was received by google ceo sundar pichai and other top google executives at the global technology companys corporate headquarters in silicon valley california1 discussions centred around how both the federal government and google could work together to beef up digital access in nigeria. after that meeting the vice president also interacted with scores of nigerians working with google1 speaking in hollywood before he left the us early yesterday prof. osinbajo noted that the federal government is determined to ensure needed regulations are in place to stimulate the growth of the countrys entertainment and creative industries including the protection of intellectual property and investment guarantees1 the vp stated this during the interactive investment forum on nigerias creativity sector with us-based entertainment outlets media1 for two days american investors and chieftains from the technology and entertainment sectors of the us and indeed global economies took turns to listen and actively interact with vice president yemi osinbajo san and the nigerian delegation drawn from the public and private sectors1 so what we have done so far is that weve been looking at what the specific issues are and there are quite a few1 there are those who want to know about what we are doing in terms of intellectual property protection investment guarantee and all of that. but i think that the most important thing really is that we have a government and a lot of those who work in our agencies who are determined to work through this day by day piece by piece to make sure that we get our environment right and we get the right type of investment environment1 prof. osinbajo further said the buhari administration will continue to make effort to improve the countrys infrastructure and technology to grow the countrys entertainmentcreative sector and the digital economy1 he said we are also of course very interested in many ways in deepening infrastructure especially broadband connectivity and all of that because we think that mobile telephony is going to be one of the big ways especially for the distribution of film and all of that. and we are convinced that with the size of our population we must find ways of getting film and content unto mobile phones and also working out payment systems around that because we think that that is the way this is going to go1 we know that in the next couple of years that really is where a lot of development is going to go to and we are very anxious to get our regulations right to get all of our laws in place and to ensure that we are able to attract all of you who want to do business with us especially those of you who are coming from other countries1 as for nigerians we are of course actively engaged with the local industry and that is one of the reasons why we have the advisory council which takes into account many of our local investors local artistes and the local entertainment crowd generally1 the interactive forum in los angeles was the last leg of the vice presidents trip to the united states where he led a public-private sector collaborative investment road show including meetings with global industry leaders in the technology film music1 the investment road show led by the vice president showcased the efforts of the buhari administration in developing nigerias technology entertainment and creative sectors and sought to deepen collaboration between nigeria and the us in these areas1 also on the vice presidents delegation were representatives of tech firms nollywood and several relevant government agencies. a number of representatives of those agencies also held a meeting with facebook at its headquarters in the silicon valley on tuesday1 the vps earlier meetings with a series of key us technology investors and executives from us-based companies-invest in nigeria summit held at the four seasons hotel palo alto san francisco california while the meeting with hollywood and us entertainment industry operatives held all day at the waldorf astoria hotel in los angeles1 at the meetings which were well attended by us and nigerian investors industry chieftains prof. osinbajo reiterated governments commitment to the growth of the countrys digital economy by creating the right environment for the technology creative industries to thrive and unlocking the countrys potential1 the vice president said one of the critical things for us also is the fact that we are very open to ensuring that regulation is competitive especially in the tech space1 all over the world this is a very dynamic environment and we recognise that and we want to be able to work with players and investors to get the regulations and environment right1 prof. osinbajo also showcased opportunities for innovation and investment in nigeria while also highlighting the growth of nigerian technology start-ups and young nigerians taking the lead in innovation and creativity1 he noted that government was exploring more ways to leverage on technology to improve infrastructure and other areas of the economy while also highlighting the impact of the buhari administration social investment programme such as the n-power scheme and how it leverages on technology to train and empower young nigerian graduates. so far the n-power scheme has 200000 beneficiaries with 300000 more expected to be added soon1 akande is the senior special assistant to the president on media1