African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina.

Telecom provider MTN Group and the African Development Bank met last week in Lagos to discuss ways of hastening Africa's digitisation.

MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita and group chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer Nompilo Morafo had a meeting with Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group on the sidelines of the 2023 Businessday CEO Forum in Lagos.

MTN said the discussions were engaging, focusing on potential collaborations that align with a shared vision of driving digital transformation and sustainable growth in Africa.

In his remarks at the Forum, Adesina encouraged innovation and acceleration of a “well-developed and policy-enabled manufacturing sector” to drive the development of the export market.

"The day that Nigeria wakes up and becomes a lion king, everything will change for its people; and everything will change for all of Africa," he said.

Adesina added: "Nigeria must look beyond the industries of today into the industries of the future and develop a plan and capacity to compete in the smart industries that will become the main drivers of global economies.

"The fourth industrial revolution, based on automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data computing, 3-D printing and additive manufacturing rapidly transforming industrial manufacturing. Nigeria must therefore enhance its readiness to transition to digitised and smart manufacturing.

"The rising use of robotics in manufacturing is leading to a rethink in the structure of global value chains. This will pose a challenge for Nigeria’s drive to attract talent and be competitive in labour-intensive light manufacturing."