Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) has said Nigeria would need to use technological and innovative ingenuity to fight the health and economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He stated on Monday at the virtual conference of the Centre for Lion Gadgets & Technologies (University of Nigeria, Nsukka), themed: “Technological Innovation for Holistic Sustainable Development”.

The event also featured a virtual interaction between the Vice President and students, both from the university and the secondary school, in the UNN campus.

In a statement issued by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, the vice president noted that Nigeria must be innovative, just like developed countries, to tackle the myriad of challenges before it.

He added that the level of innovative response would determine how quickly the country recovers from the COVID-19 disruptions.

Speaking about the importance of technology and innovation in resolving society’s numerous problems, the vice president said: “We must creatively imagine and pioneer our way out.”

According to him, “we are in one of the worst health and economic crises in living memory and our recovery must be innovative – we must employ never-before-seen methods to fight the never-before-seen plethora of issues before us.

“Whether we are discussing the delivery of social services to vulnerable communities and promoting financial inclusion or we are talking about boosting agricultural productivity and promoting the security of our communities, how we harness technology is crucial.

“The future will be decided in groups such as yours, where young Nigerians are actively thinking about how to deploy technology in creative ways for problem-solving.”