*President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assures foreign investors that Nigeria’s ready-to-learn and tech-savvy youthful workforce can easily integrate into the global market, welcoming MasterCard’s proposal to train five million businesses and equip them with digital skills in the economy
Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said Nigeria’s teeming youth population remains the country’s greatest asset.
ConsumerConnect reports President Tinubu Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Abuja, FCT, assured foreign investors that the ready-to-learn and tech-savvy youthful workforce could easily integrate into the global market.
The President stated this when he received a delegation from MasterCard, led by Michael Miebach, Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in the State House.
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He also welcomed the company’s proposal to train five million businesses and equip them with digital skills.
He averred the Nigerian economy has been repositioned and stabilised to fully participate in the global economy, with a focus on empowering youths and small businesses with digital skills and tools.
The President noted that the ongoing formalisation of Nigeria’s largely informal small-business sector will create more opportunities for digital transitions, investments, employment, and growth.
Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Tuesday stated President Tinubu said: “I am glad that you are very familiar with the terrain. I can classify you as a Nigerian.
“MasterCard has a very big reputation in financial management, and opportunities are spreading in Nigeria.”
Tinubu stated the business orientation is gradually changing, with more small businesses registering and embracing technology.
He equally assured that more Nigerian youths would be empowered with digital skills to tackle present and future challenges.
Tinubu also said: “The most important asset is our youth.
“I missed one thing in your remark: whether you met with the Bank of Industry (BOI). BOI has a database of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.”
The Nigerian leader stated: “Payment plans and platforms are very necessary for the inclusion of small and medium-scale businesses.
“What you have been doing with our young population is commendable, and we will continue to support that in every form.
“As the host country, the agreements we have with you are valid, and I want you to see us as partners.”
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Speaking at the forum in Abuja, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, Honourable Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, said the economic reforms had provided opportunities for integration, particularly in credit and payment systems.
Oyedele stated: “You do more than payments, and that includes the work which you are doing in Nigeria through the MasterCard foundation to support and strengthen small businesses and the informal sector.
“This aligns well with the reforms of Mr. President in different areas, cutting across the public and private sectors, including the ongoing efforts to digitise government services.”
The Minister also noted: “We aim to enhance and empower at least 3 million youths in Nigeria.
“We are creating opportunities for work within the digital economy, the formalisation of the very large informal sector that we have in Nigeria.”
Oyedele affirmed that one of the major reforms by Mr. President in fiscal and tax matters has led to over 10,000 informal businesses, applying for registration every day over the past few months.
He stated: “This speaks to the opportunities that abound in Nigeria for organisations like MasterCard.”
According to him, the President’s policy also cuts across the credit economy, including mortgages, personal loans, consumer credit, auto loans, small-business credit, and student loans.
Onanuga noted Mr. Oyedele particularly, noted significant opportunities in the credit economy for MasterCard to improve payment systems in Nigeria and across Africa.
These include using the Naira for swaps without third currencies, Oyedele said.
He added that five of the nine FinTech unicorns are in Nigeria.
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Responding, Miebach, Global CEO of MasterCard, assured President Tinubu of his company’s support in implementing the economic reforms.
He stated: “We have a business here since 2011, and we have seen the country grow, and we have seen the country lead.
“We have seen your obviously clear alignment of fiscal and monetary policy that you have driven.”
The company GCEO said: “In our world systems, there is a lot of momentum in Nigeria.
“A little anecdote: I was the one who set up the MasterCard business in Nigeria in 2011.”
Miebach noted with nostalgia: “I was in Lagos, and hired the employee number one. So, it’s a little bit like coming home.
“It’s been a long-standing history, and today we facilitate a big aspect of the economy.”
He further noted: “In Nigeria, we are preventing $200 million in fraud and bringing in $2 billion in foreign exchange.
“We are helping the SME sector thrive and, of course, partner with your banks.”
Miebach also stated: “We recognise the moment that we are in.
“We spent time with the CBN Governor and had an opportunity to meet the leading bankers yesterday in Lagos, to see where everything is going and the opportunity here to unlock the power of the 40 million SMEs in Nigeria, to really connect the Diaspora to the homeland and ensure Nigeria is the most thriving and biggest economy on the continent.
“We want to drive the intra-African digital economy.”
According to him, MasterCard has already created the framework and platform to empower 40 million small businesses in Nigeria with digital skills.
He said: “Many small businesses would like to have a digital part of their business, and they don’t know how to do that.
“Capacity building of small businesses vis-a-vis just opening a shop and keeping them safe in a cyber-world.”
The MasterCard GCEO disclosed the company has “a three-year programme for small businesses.
“A technical workshop has been planned for this, so it is not just talk but action and impact.”
Miebach, therefore, assured President Tinubu of investments in inclusivity, participation, trust, and resilience in a digital world, as well as a Cyber Centre of Excellence that captures and shares threat intelligence, incident response, AI risks, and other emerging risks.