These days, If one writes, they’ll say this trouble maker don start again. So I kept quiet on Aso Villa Demo Day (a day to showcase to the President the best of Nigerian technology).

However, this morning, the thought came to me, “Wait o… we have been clamoring for Bubu to take tech seriously, therefore this Aso Villa Demo Day is our one chance to  ‘convince him’ that tech is the future and that we here in Nigeria have the capacity to deliver on the promise.”

To the best of my knowledge, non comrades of our techosystem (I know, sounds so entitled and arrogant) have the mandate to decide our representatives. How we are viewed by the highest level of government depends on them. They are our representatives to the President. 

So looking through the list, I could see less than a handful of startups like GRIT Systems and RedBank folks tackling huge and important problems.  I could also see a number of “normal startups” e.g a different permutation of ecommerce startups you’d find in Lagos.

Looking further however, I see stuff like Egusi Soupe. And many other ”ideas” most likely thought off the cuff. I doubt much more than the pitching time was allotted to these ideas. Their only entries in Google search is from the press releases sent to various media outlets.

So how have these representatives of  Nigeria’s Tech possibilities been chosen? And by who? And with what criteria?

I would think if we’re pitching tech to the highest level of the country, we should be going for greatest impact. We should play our very best cards. Which I’d interpret as startups with the most feasible chance of directly impacting a minimum of 1 million people or creating/saving a minimum of a billion dollars. 

A second thing I’d champion if we in the techosystem had this opportunity would be to go out and recruit beyond the people that applied. For instance, I should expect a Tryctor, WeCyclers, something on the future of education, financial Inclusion etc to be among this list.

Finally, I would there should be a clear and realizable outcome from this rare August (september?) meeting with the President. Every startup should have their one ask which we would expect the President to mandate/champion instantly. This should instantly eliminate every “idea only”  entries which belong to hackathons and business plan competitions.

But what do I know?

I’ll conclude by referencing a favorite admonition of my man Bubu. 

“You Nigerian Technology Press should do more investigative journalism. Ask questions. Prod around. Basically, do your jobs. You’re the fourth estate”.

PS: I don’t intend to be harsh or overtly critical which is why I have my recommendations within the post. Hard questions must always be raised especially when it comes to government. No vex.