L-R: Garba Kurfi, Managing Director/CEO, APT Securities and Funds Limited; Prince Cookey, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Business Journal Media Group; Olatunde Amolegbe, Managing Director/CEO, Arthur Stevens Asset Management Limited and Keynote Speaker; Prof. Anthony Kila, Pro- Chancellor, Michael and Cecilia Ibru University/Chairman of the occasion; Tony Epelle, Managing Consultant/CEO, Samuelson Advisory Partners and Dotun Oladipo, Managing Editor, The Eagle Online, during the Business Journal Annual Lecture 2025 on the theme: ‘AI & Digital Economy: Projecting the Future of Economic Growth in Nigeria’ in Lagos yesterday.
Renowned Economist and Managing Consultant/CEO of Samuelson Advisory Partners Limited, Mr. Tony Epelle, says the Nigerian economy has the capacity to achieve $2 trillion milestone by 2030 as against the current target of $1 trillion economy set by the Federal Government.
He said he aligns with the position of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) in that regard.
Speaking at the Business Journal Annual Lecture 2025 in Lagos, Epelle stated that the challenge of adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digitalisation is how to maximise both concepts to grow the economy to a sustainable level.
He said the country also faces the challenge of energy as the demand for power has increased substantially as part of the AI revolution.
“The energy market is big enough because of the local market and export. There are also, many entrepreneurial opportunities coming up. We need to take advantage of them. AI would be useful for data management and generate more businesses.”
Epelle also called for a change of mindset in the area of education.
“We need mass education. We have so much education in urban areas. We have inadequate education and standards in the rural areas. We need to raise the standards in education to fill the huge gap in the education sector. We need the concept of AI to be compulsory, even at the primary school level. Another important point is instituting the concept of entrepreneurship in our education system.”
The theme of the Business Journal Annual Lecture 2025, which held at Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos was: AI & Digital Economy: Projecting the Future of Economic Growth in Nigeria.
