LASG, MIST Place Nigeria On Global Map As GITEX Nigeria 2026 Showcases Africa’s Digital Future

Lagos State Government (LASG) has reaffirmed its position at the heart of Africa’s technology and innovation conversation, with the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology (MIST) under Hon. Olatunbosun Alake fronting the state’s charge as GITEX Nigeria 2026 held its Lagos leg at the Landmark Centre, Victoria Island.

The two-day programme, which combined the Tech Expo, the Future Economy Conference and the Startup Festival, drew government officials, startups, investors and global technology players from across the continent and beyond.

It opened against the backdrop of a Welcome Dinner that had brought together key stakeholders from government, the private sector and the international technology community the night before, with representatives from Katsina, Jigawa, Ondo, Kwara, Delta, Borno, Ogun and Lagos states mingling with founders, investors and diplomatic guests.

The dinner featured keynote remarks from Mr Sam Egube, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Lagos State Governor, who represented Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Trixie LohMirmand, Executive Vice President of the Dubai World Trade Centre and CEO of KAOUN International; the Consulate of Morocco; and Alake, whose address centred on the city’s innovation ecosystem and the opportunities being unlocked through technology and investment.

The tone for the two days that followed was set by Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, who described Lagos as a “consequential city.”

He said the decision to bring GITEX to Lagos underlines the state’s growing weight within Africa’s technology landscape, and reiterated the state’s ambition to be recognised not just as Nigeria’s commercial capital but as Africa’s innovation capital.

He pointed to Lagos’ base of nearly 1,000 active startups as evidence of that ambition, while stressing the need for continued investment in infrastructure, talent, policy and execution.

Throughout the event, MIST maintained a visible, curated presence, using the platform to showcase the depth of the state’s innovation ecosystem, including its startups, technologies, partnerships and investment opportunities.

The commissioner’s engagements tied into wider conversations around the future of finance in Africa, as GITEX rolled out platforms dedicated to fintech, digital assets, open banking, tokenisation and cross-border finance.

Also prominent was Engr. Ganiyu Oseni, Special Adviser to the Governor on Innovation, Technology and Broadband Development who is also the Chairman, Local Organising Committee (LOC), who argued that infrastructure and policy cannot be treated separately in building a digital economy. Oseni highlighted connectivity, power, digital identity and talent as critical foundations, and delivered a pointed message to investors: Lagos wants not just capital but operational presence — companies willing to build, operate and grow within the state rather than treat it only as a market.

He further called on Nigeria to move beyond adopting technologies developed elsewhere and begin producing home-grown solutions in digital finance, tokenised assets and cross-border settlement capable of competing across Africa and globally.

The clearest expression of MIST’s ambition came on Day Two, with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) Pitch Programme, delivered in partnership with TechQuest STEM Academy and MIST.

The programme gave a select group of founders a formal stage to present their businesses, solutions and growth plans to an audience that included potential investors and other ecosystem stakeholders.

Day Two also shifted emphasis toward financial technology with FDX Nigeria by GITEX, which addressed digital payments, banking, financial inclusion, digital assets and cross-border finance. The day saw the launch of MINT Africa by GITEX, a new platform dedicated to the future of finance on the continent, tying directly into Lagos’ ambitions around financial innovation and investment.

Speaking on the sidelines, Oseni reiterated his call for Nigeria to take a leading role in Africa’s digital financial future, arguing that the country already possesses the talent, market scale and ecosystem depth to build solutions serving the wider continent.

Earlier in the week, MIST had, for the second time, convened a closed-door Commissioners’ Roundtable on Digital Transformation and Innovation, bringing together senior technology and innovation leaders from Katsina, Ogun, Jigawa, Ondo, Kwara, Delta and Borno states, alongside representatives of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and senior Lagos State officials, including Group Chief Technology and Information Officer Olumide Idowu and Oseni.

Participants converged on the central point that the question is no longer whether states should digitise, but how to move from isolated pilot projects to sustainable, citizen-centred digital systems.

Seven themes emerged as decisive, including political will and institutional buy-in, digital literacy, standardised and well-governed data, strategic infrastructure and cybersecurity, a clearer innovation-to-government pipeline, measurable digital economy outcomes, and stronger inter-state collaboration.

For Lagos, Alake used the platform to speak to an implementation policy framework, enterprise architecture and IT education, alongside the standardisation of data ahead of further digitisation, an ongoing audit of systems holding state data, the state’s Oracle-based Applicant Resourcing Platform, and a fully digital payroll.

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