A city producing technology graduates by the thousands should be busier in terms of digital presence. Whose failure is this, and who will be committed enough to fix it?
Week 6 of the Techies Node civic tech and advocacy series in partnership with Ibadan Tech Expo
If you were designing a city to become a technology hub, you might start with a strong technical university. You might add a polytechnic with hands-on vocational programs. You might situate this city along a major transport corridor connecting it to commercial centres. You might ensure it has a large, young, educated population with an appetite for economic advancement.
You would, in other words, describe Ogbomoso.
Ogbomoso is home to Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, one of the most respected science and technology universities in Nigeria. LAUTECH’s faculties of Engineering and Technology and Pure and Applied Sciences have for decades produced graduates in computer science, electrical engineering, mechatronics, and related disciplines. The city also hosts The Polytechnic, Igboora’s satellite campus and other vocational training institutions. Thousands of technically trained young people pass through Ogbomoso every year.
And then they leave.
The city has no significant tech hub. no significant accelerator. No startup incubator backed by government capital. only a few co-working spaces, by individuals seeking to give back, of note. No state-sponsored digital skills program targeting its large student and graduate population. The entrepreneurs and developers who emerge from LAUTECH largely relocate to Ibadan, Lagos, or abroad, taking their skills, their networks, and their economic potential with them.
This is a policy failure. And it belongs, in different proportions, to multiple layers of government.
At the state level, the Oyo State government has historically concentrated its technology and innovation interventions in Ibadan. This is understandable in some respects, Ibadan is the capital, has a larger existing ecosystem, and is where most of the decision-makers live and work. But it leaves Ogbomoso, the state’s second city and home to a major technical university, chronically underserved.
At the federal constituency level, Ogbomoso’s House of Representatives members have the platform to advocate for federal investment in technology infrastructure in the city, NITDA programmes, ITF digital skills training, TETFund projects at LAUTECH that are oriented toward applied technology and entrepreneurship. The question is whether they have been doing so, and whether the aspirants for 2027 have any concrete plans to change the picture.
At the senatorial level, Oyo North Senatorial District, which includes Ogbomoso, has a senator whose legislative footprint on technology issues will become a subject of public scrutiny as the election approaches.
What would a genuine government commitment to Ogbomoso’s tech ecosystem look like? It would start with government co-investment in a properly resourced technology hub, not a repurposed room in a government building, but a dedicated facility with reliable power, high-speed internet, mentorship programs, and connections to funding networks. It would include a program to work with LAUTECH to establish an applied technology commercialization office that helps convert student and faculty research into viable products. It would mean deliberate policies to attract private technology investment to the city.
Cities of similar size and academic profile across Africa, from Kigali to Kumasi have managed to build credible startup ecosystems with the right combination of public support and private initiative, So, the Oyo tech ecosystem demanding for it is not asking for two much. representatives at state and federal levels can help Ogbomoso achieve the do the same.
But it will not happen if the political leadership does not see the opportunity. In 2027, voters in Ogbomoso’s constituencies have a chance to elect people who will fight for this city’s digital future. The question is whether they can or will ask the right questions before deciding who deserves their vote.
