Bradford Lee Smith, Head of Microsoft Corporation, announced on January 7 his company is ready to help Nigeria revive its economy after the Covid-19 pandemic. This was during a virtual meeting with Yemi Osinbajo (pictured).

Developed and approved in June 2020, Nigeria's Economic Recovery Plan is the government's response to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. In its report "Rising to the challenge: Nigeria's Covid response" published in December 2020, the World Bank revealed that as a result of the double shock of the Covid-19 outbreak and associated containment measures, as well as the subsequent global oil price shock, economic activity in Nigeria declined by 6% in the second quarter of 2020 and 3.1% in the third quarter, with a cumulative contraction of 2.5% in the first three quarters of 2020.

By participating in Nigeria's economic recovery plan, Microsoft will have the opportunity to further strengthen its presence in the country where it has already invested through a digital development center. This new investment will boost competition with Google, Facebook, and Huawei.

According to Bradford Lee Smith, although the terms of the cooperation between Microsoft and Nigeria are yet to be defined, the vision of the American company's investment in the country remains oriented towards the creation of the most viable technology ecosystem in Africa; An ecosystem that will help make Nigeria's technology sector a source of wealth and employment for the youth.