February 15, (THEWILL) – The European Union (EU) has announced an EU-Nigeria Digital Economy of at least €820million until 2024.
Spokesman for the Vice-president, Laolu Akande, said in a release on Monday that Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Vice-President, Margrethe Vestager, stated this when her delegation visiting Nigeria met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Sunday.
Vestager informed Prof. Osinbajo that the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had announced a Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package worth €150 billion.
“The package will help enhance secure connectivity, digitalise public services, support entrepreneurship and build digital skills, while developing a human-centric, democratic governance framework for technology”, Akande said in the release.
Akande also said that the vice president expressed relief that the European Union (EU) supports the view canvassed by Nigeria that gas be considered a transition fuel as the global community moves towards net-zero emissions targets.
“We are relieved to hear of the EU’s support on gas as a transition fuel. It’s some bit of relief”, said Osinbajo.
Nigeria has been in the forefront of the international advocacy on the issue and the Vice President has spoken and written about it in different international forums.
Issues discussed at the meeting included the use of Digital Technology, Trade and Investment. The importance of the energy relationship between Nigeria and the EU also featured, while a consideration of all options for increased supply of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), from Nigeria to the EU was agreed to, following a request from the EU.
A technical meeting on this will be convened shortly.
Welcoming the EU Digital Economy support, Osinbajo noted that the use of Digital Technology is crucial in Nigeria’s recently released National Development Plan. He described the support as impressive,
The importance of a renewed Nigeria-EU partnership was noted during the meeting, including expectations for a successful EU-AU (European Union – African Union) Summit in Brussels later this week, specifically on the 17th-18th of February.
