Co-founder of Microsoft and Co-chair of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates visited Nigeria as part of the Gates Foundation’s commitment to work closely with communities and leaders to support innovation that can help accelerate progress and improve lives across Africa.
While the billionaire’s comment on looking up and hopefully meeting afrobeat stars Burna Boy and Rema went viral, Gates got up to other things and made some interesting revelations as well. Here’s 8 things you should know;
- Gates indeed visited the Aso Rock Villa on Monday with the chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote and held a meeting with president Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
- On Wednesday he proceeded to meet and have a conversation with Nigerian students and young leaders and innovators at the Pan African Youth Innovation Forum. Tagged “Advancing Africa; Unleashing the power of Youth in Science and innovation,” the gathering was co-sponsored by the Co- Creation Hub Nigeria and Lagos Business school.
- At the event, Bill Gates acknowledged that Nigeria is filled with talented people with many potentials but that maximizing these potentials is hard in an environment where talented people do not have access to the most basic building blocks of life.
- Gates revealed how little the Nigerian government invests in health care noting that that the government only spends about $10 on health per citizen every year equivalent to spending N6,900 on each citizen per year. He emphasized the need for leaders to make much bigger financial commitments mostly on improving the primary health system.
- He gave the youth of Nigeria quite the accolade praising their determination, hardwork and doggedness. He said: “I have a lot of faith that your generation will persevere and improve lives throughout Nigeria and beyond.”
- A scientist himself, Gates met partner scientists with the Gates Foundation and shared details of some of their work. “These scientists are improving seeds, fertilizer, and biopesticides so farmers can thrive in climate change and grow crops free of toxins,” he said. “And I met with a researcher scaling up an effective way to reduce anaemia in pregnant women.”
- Gates did not leave the AI stone unturned. He expressed some enthusiasm in AI’S potential to save and improve lives, saying; “Down the road, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be applied to bring quality healthcare and education to more people.”
- He revealed that the Gates foundation had requested proposals for what they call “the Grand Challenge.” A project for innovative safe uses of Large Language Models. Gates stated that half of the 1300 proposals they received came from Africa and winners would be announced in Senegal this October with hopes that the outcome of the exercise will have the desired impact.
“We hope what emerges will help build an evidence base for advancing equitable outcomes in health and development everywhere in the world,” he said.
He also promised to speak to the government about increasing their commitment to agricultural and digital financial systems.
