The number of unsuccessful public-private partnerships is on the rise especially with the business attitude of the country’s government in the last eight years. The Information Technology Developers Entrepreneurship Accelerator (iDEA) Nigeria may be the latest to be included in this list.
The iDEA Nigeria hub was established in March 2013 by then Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, in collaboration with the Nigeria IT Development Agency (NITDA) and some like-minded entrepreneurs. iDEA hub was set up to be a technology incubator for tech startups and entrepreneurs as well as fostering enabling partnership between government and entrepreneurs to empower them in different aspects.
At inception, the hub was adjudged an outstanding government initiative but recent information about the hub pictured a stressed organisation. Investigation on the cause(s) of this situation all point to the federal government and its agency, NITDA.
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Mrs. Helen Anatogu, CEO iDEA Hub, said during her interview last year that NITDA has not been meeting up agreed funding from the agency. She noted that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with agency in 2013 on provision of grant funding to groom startups has not been met.
“NITDA has only provided about 30% of agreed funding since 2013”.
The news of relocation by the Hub to another location raised more curiosity about the state of affairs of the incubation center. Early in the year, many of the tech start-ups using the Hub also migrated en masse due to reasons range of poor facility management, thus threaten the effective operation of the hub.
The hub next door, Co-Creation Hub, has been experiencing exponential growth. Therefore, making the current condition of iDEA hub more concerning.
The Federal government must ensure great commitment to talent development and knowledge economics, as they are next stop for wealth creation and inclusion growth in most emerging economies in the world. The effectiveness of iDEA Nigeria is essential for effective development and acceleration of growth of tech entrepreneurship in Nigeria.
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Ensuring optimal operations of few existing incubation centres in Nigeria must be an agenda of the Ministries of Science and Technology and Communications.
