World Bank - Nigeria, Others Not Prepared for Digital Economy

The President of the World Bank Group, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, has said policy makers in Nigeria and other African countries are ill-prepared to compete in the digital technology space, expressing concern over the continent's low level of investment in human capital.

Kim, who made the statement at the 2018 IMF/World Bank spring meetings opening press conference in Washington D.C., pointed out that investment in human capital would assist Nigeria and others in the region to drive growth.

The World Bank chief also lamented the rising level of public debt in the region.

"We are extremely concerned that many African countries are not prepared to compete in what is increasingly becoming a digitalised economy.

"We also see evidence that many of the low-skilled jobs will be taken over by technology and there is also tremendous hope for technology in many African countries.

"We just have to find new ways of driving economic growth. There is no getting away from the need to invest much more effectively in health and education," he said.

Kim said there was need to adequately prepare youths on the continent to be able to compete favourably with their peers from other continents in the future.