The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, has called on investors from across the globe to come and invest in the economy of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, saying the city does not discriminate.
The traditional ruler made this known at the launch of a new tech hub built by Smith Chukwuemeka Eze, a young Nigerian of Igbo extraction around Felele area of the capital city.
Olubadan said Ibadan as a city for all tribes, welcomes all and sundry to come and create a way of life for themselves.
He said: “In the palace of Olubadan, we do not discriminate against anybody. Ibadan is a cosmopolitan city.
“It is not only Nigerians that are there, we have people from all over the world. We want everyone to emulate what he has done.”
Olubadan lauded tech hub as a timely move which should be emulated by other young people across the country.
He described the founder of the hub as a young man full of brilliant ideas, aimed at transforming the society.
Oba Adetunji, then called on youths to be innovative in their approaches as they are the solution to all crisis in the country.
“The hood does not make the monk. If you look at Emeka, he is a very young man, he is not so tall, he is not so big; it is not determined by the physiology of a man, it is determined by ideas.
“Emeka is a bundle of ideas, especially in ICT and that is why we are here today. He is a son of Olubadan and we have decided to send him into the world to do exploits,” he said.
Speaking with journalists at the event, Lord Smith Chukwuemeka Eze explained that his decision to launch the hub was driven by his desire to empower and sponsor other young Nigerians on how to make laudable exploits in the technological world.
“Looking at the technological world now, it’s very expensive and not everyone can afford it. I tried it during my own time but I couldn’t afford it until I got sponsors.
“When you look at Nigeria today, it’s not everyone that can get sponsors. So I am looking at empowering more people and bringing them into the technological field because with technology, they would go further than we expect,” he said.
My journey into the tech world didn’t start today. In 2011, we established Smithfelix2geda.net through which we developed Nigeria’s ‘first’ social media website 2geda.net in 2015.
“In 2015, we unveiled Nigeria’s first social media website, we had to shut it down because then I wasn’t a programmer yet and the programme I had wasn’t working well.
“I went to further my education in computer programming and now I am back.
“Coming back into the ICT world is also coming back to having a social media of our own in Nigeria,” he added.