Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has called on young innovators to seize opportunities in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies to tackle critical challenges in health, education, and agriculture.
Mbah delivered the charge on Tuesday during the opening ceremony of the second edition of the Enugu Tech Festival at the International Conference Centre, Enugu.
Describing the event as more than a conventional technology conference, the governor framed it as “a reinforcement of intent” for Enugu’s digital future.
He urged the state’s youth to master fields such as AI, cybersecurity, and semiconductor design, while leveraging technology to modernize traditional sectors.
“Tech revolution does not mean abandoning the old economy; it means transforming it,” Mbah said. “Agriculture needs precision farming and supply chain analytics. Healthcare needs telemedicine and data management. Manufacturing needs automation and smart logistics.”
The governor stressed that the festival’s goal extends beyond producing coders—it aims to cultivate critical thinkers who can develop globally competitive solutions from Enugu.
“In this room are people who will build the systems that define how we live, work, trade, and learn. Let this generation be known not for what it extracts, but for what it designs,” he declared.
Mbah highlighted the global shift toward an economy powered by innovation, where ideas, code, and data now dominate over physical assets. He cited tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta as proof that the Fourth Industrial Revolution has moved innovation from the periphery to the center of development.
“The world economy is no longer driven by physical assets, but by ideas. We are witnessing the acceleration of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and here in Enugu, we have made a deliberate decision not to be spectators, but participants and producers,” he added.
Drawing parallels with Enugu’s colonial-era coal mining legacy—when production peaked at nearly one million tons annually, fueling railways, ports, and value creation that largely benefited others—Mbah called for a shift from extraction to innovation and ownership.
“Today, the resource is different. It is not buried beneath our feet; it is inside us. The question is whether we will export our raw potential or build systems that keep value here and send finished ideas to the world,” he said.
Innovation, the governor advised, starts with identifying and solving real-world problems, as seen in successful startups that began by addressing everyday frustrations rather than grand ambitions.
“These companies did not begin with the ambition to change the world; they began with a problem they refused to ignore. Let us not chase invention for its own sake. Let us find what is broken, understand it deeply, and fix it properly,” Mbah counseled.
In his welcome address, the State Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Prince Lawrence Eze, described the festival as a defining milestone in Enugu’s digital transformation.
Eze noted that since the inaugural event, the state has emerged as one of Nigeria’s leading tech ecosystems, training thousands of youths and establishing multiple innovation hubs.
He outlined the festival’s objectives: forging stronger partnerships, launching pilot projects in agriculture, healthcare, and green energy, promoting sustainable practices, and expanding digital infrastructure.
