… Proves Commitment With ₦3bn University Hub Initiative
By CHIDIEBERE NWANKWO
Following widespread misunderstanding regarding an earlier speech made by the co-founder and CEO of fintech firm, Moniepoint, Tosin Eniolorunda, as it concerns skilled manpower in the sector, the CEO has thrown more light on the subject, noting the need to fund skill development in the sector.
Speaking in Osun State at the unveiling of a ₦3bn University Hub Initiative being executed by Moniepoint in 3 prominent Nigerian Universities, Eniolorunda clarified that Nigeria boasts of committed and skilled manpower, who can stand as some of the best in the world.
He howeber, noted that despite this position, the country still needs to breed more experts and brilliant people to drive the country to global competitiveness.
In his words: “What I say is, in Nigeria, we are some of the brightest in the world, take it from me. There is something we have in this country that I have not seen in any other country of the world – our grit and drive for success, combined with the fact that we have some of the best rates of the world. I have not seen it anywhere in the world, and trust me, I have travelled.”
“Today, Moniepoint has built some of the most complex technologies we have. Some of you think that every time you use a PoS, the amount of technology behind that thing to make sure that it always works is not trivial. In terms of scaling, it terms of reliability, it terms of security, we placed everything in the hands of Nigerians. We built a core banking application, which is a double ledger accounting system that solves some of the most complex computer science accounting problems internally. And all these were built by Nigerians.”
Pointing out the challenge of human capital, which was misconstrued in his earlier speech, he further talked about giving more opportunities to Nigerians to develop their skills and contribute more to the economy.
“Now, we have a human capital development crisis in our hands, whether we like it or not, we have to acknowledge it. Which is that fact that the general population, we need to give them more opportunities, and we need to give them more education.”
So, essentially, what I was driving at, and I hope we all listen, is that we need to continually develop the capacity of Nigerians for us to be able to remain globally competitive.
To buttress his point, the Moniepoint CEO announced the landmark ₦3 billion commitment to establish three Innovation Hubs across some of Nigeria’s most prestigious federal universities over the next three years.
The three institutions were strategically selected to scale the impact of the interventions across Nigeria’s geographic regions and to reflect a commitment to ensuring that opportunity is not concentrated in a single city or region but is proportionally distributed across the country, in line with Nigeria’s diversity and potential.
Each hub will serve as a permanent centre for hands-on training in software engineering, data science, and artificial intelligence; design; robotics; product development; and entrepreneurship. Open to students across all faculties, the programme will guide participants from curiosity to career readiness through structured, cohort-based learning, mentorship, and real-world project execution.
