Technology is the key driver for economic and social development, and it should be adopted to facilitate growth in key sectors of Nigeria’s economy.

This is according to Nigeria’s minister of communication technology, Omobola Johnson (pictured far left), who was speaking at a ministerial roundtable gathering held in the West African nation on Thursday.

The ministerial roundtable was a gathering of Nigeria’s key government sectors. Technology giant IBM also attended the meeting.

It was revealed that ministers from Nigeria’s departments of agriculture and rural development, education, finance, health, communication technology, science and technology gathered to discuss how technology can be adopted to create solutions for challenges in that country.

"The ministry is committed to ensuring that ICT is leveraged to enhance and facilitate the transformational development of Nigeria in critical sectors of the economy such as power, health, education, agriculture, interior to enable inclusive development, job creation, transparency of governance and economic growth," said Johnson.

Meanwhile, IBM has identified several “grand challenges” of concern not only to Nigeria but also the rest of the African continent, reads a statement from Johnson’s office .

These challenges are in the areas of water and sanitation, energy management, financial services, human mobility (including transportation and public safety), healthcare and agriculture.

As a result, the ministerial roundtable discussions centered on the various processes necessary for facilitating the adoption of smart government solutions to enhance the development of Nigeria.

IBM’s chairman and chief executive officer, Virginia Rometty (pictured middle), expressed her support for Nigeria’s technology development agenda.

"Technology innovation is a key ingredient for social and economic transformation, and critical for crossing the innovation divide. I am encouraged to see the ministry of communication technology spearheading technology reforms in Nigeria, encouraging investment in key building blocks of growth such as education and skills, digital and physical infrastructure and scientific and technical research," said Rometty.

"IBM will partner with the government, businesses, academia and innovators to aid the adoption of new technologies which will tangibly support efforts to spur development in Nigeria," Rometty concluded.

The roundtable ended with government and IBM officials resolving to work together on key research areas via the IBM Research Africa Lab to leverage technology to create solutions for identified challenges and also on best practices for a technology enabled government.