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APC National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda is set to lead Nigeria’s delegation to the 7th Africa Public Sector Conference and Awards (APSCA 2026) in Accra, Ghana, where he is expected to use a keynote address to present Nigeria’s governance and development experience under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
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The conference, scheduled for October 14–16, 2026, at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra, will be held under the theme, “Governance 2030: Delivering Resilient Institutions for a Digital, Green and Secure Africa.”
Yilwatda’s keynote, titled “The Party as Platform: How Governing Parties Can Architect Digital, Green and Secure Governance for 2030,” will place the role of political parties at the centre of discussions on institutional development, digital transformation and long-term governance.
His participation gives Nigeria’s governing party a platform to explain how the Tinubu administration’s reform agenda is being translated into institutional, economic and digital transformation initiatives.
Yilwatda to Put Tinubu’s Reform Agenda Before African Audience
Yilwatda is expected to lead a high-level Nigerian delegation comprising governors, ministers, Directors-General, chief executives and senior political and public-sector officials.
The APC chairman said APSCA would provide an opportunity to articulate Nigeria’s governance and development experience under President Tinubu, particularly the institutional and structural reforms being pursued under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
“The APSCA platform will provide an opportunity to articulate Nigeria’s governance and development experience under the leadership of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, particularly the institutional and structural reforms being pursued under the Renewed Hope Agenda,” Yilwatda said.
His keynote is significant because it places the leadership of Nigeria’s governing political party directly in a continental discussion that brings together political leaders, public-sector institutions and development stakeholders.
Digital Transformation at the Centre of Nigeria’s Reform Story
A major component of the Nigerian narrative at APSCA will be the country’s digital transformation programme.
Under the Tinubu administration, the Federal Government has pursued digital infrastructure, digital public infrastructure, digital identity and emerging-technology initiatives as components of broader economic and institutional reforms.
One of the most significant projects is Project BRIDGE—Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth, which is designed to deploy at least 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic infrastructure across Nigeria and extend the national digital backbone. The Federal Government describes the project as a foundation for universal access to ICT and digital economic growth.
The African Development Bank has also approved $200 million for the project, describing the initiative as an effort to expand Nigeria’s fibre backbone, digital skills and employment opportunities.
These developments provide concrete examples of the intersection between technology policy, infrastructure investment and governance that Yilwatda is expected to highlight in Accra.
Digital Identity Emerges as Governance Infrastructure
Another key element of the administration’s digital governance agenda is national identity.
President Tinubu signed the NIMC Act 2026 into law in June, replacing the 2007 legislation and creating a contemporary legal framework for Nigeria’s identity-management ecosystem.
The new law positions NIMC as the Root Certification Authority for Nigeria’s National Public Key Infrastructure and Digital Public Infrastructure, while strengthening the framework for digital identity, authentication and secure data exchange.
It also reinforces the National Identification Number as a foundational identity credential and provides for greater interoperability between government and authorised private-sector systems.
For a conference focused on resilient institutions, the reform offers an example of how digital infrastructure is increasingly becoming part of the architecture of public administration rather than simply a technology-sector concern.
From Connectivity to Digital Government
The Tinubu administration’s digital agenda also encompasses research, skills and digital government.
The Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy has established a National Digital Economy Research Clusters Programme covering areas including digital public infrastructure and digital government, digital skills and inclusion, digital jobs and livelihoods, trust and safety, and artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
This broadens the definition of digital transformation from broadband deployment to the development of institutions, skills, research capacity and systems capable of supporting a digital economy.
Yilwatda’s keynote therefore provides an opportunity to connect these initiatives with the broader question of how political mandates can be converted into lasting institutional capacity.
‘The Party as Platform’ and the Governance Question
At the heart of Yilwatda’s address is an argument about the role of governing political parties.
He has argued that parties should evolve beyond their traditional function of securing electoral mandates and become institutions capable of developing coherent policies, strengthening public institutions and sustaining national development.
“The future of political parties in Africa, in my view, must be defined not only by their capacity to secure electoral mandates, but increasingly by their ability to transform those mandates into strong institutions, coherent policies, sustainable development and tangible improvements in the lives of the people they serve,” he said.
The proposition is particularly relevant to the APSCA theme because the conference is examining governance through the lens of what African institutions must become by 2030.
For Nigeria, the discussion creates a link between political leadership and practical questions around digital government, public-sector effectiveness, economic transformation and institutional continuity.
Presenting Nigeria’s Digital Economy Transformation
Yilwatda’s keynote is also expected to highlight Nigeria’s changing digital economy landscape.
Project BRIDGE, for instance, is being structured as a public-private partnership and is intended to expand broadband infrastructure while supporting connectivity, jobs, digital skills and economic activity. The Federal Government currently describes the project as a $2 billion initiative, with financing commitments from development institutions and private-sector participation.
The administration has also moved to strengthen the regulatory architecture around emerging digital sectors. In July 2026, President Tinubu signed an Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination aimed at harmonising regulation across financial, revenue and capital-market institutions while creating a framework for responsible innovation and consumer protection.
Taken together, these measures provide examples of a governance approach in which infrastructure, regulation, identity and technology policy are increasingly being treated as interconnected components of Nigeria’s economic transformation.
Beyond Elections: Building Institutional Continuity
Yilwatda has also positioned the APC’s long-term role around sustaining development priorities beyond individual electoral cycles.
“Our ambition, therefore, is not simply to win elections. It is to continue strengthening the APC as an enduring institutional instrument for national development,” he said.
That argument places political parties within a larger African governance debate: how can governments maintain policy continuity and institutional capacity when political leadership changes?
For Nigeria, the question is particularly relevant to long-term investments in digital infrastructure, public-sector reform and technology.
Fibre networks, digital identity systems, public digital platforms and regulatory institutions require years of implementation and cannot necessarily be evaluated within a single electoral cycle.
Nigeria and Kenya Among African Governance Voices
Nigeria will participate alongside other major African countries, including Kenya, in the APSCA discussions.
The Kenyan delegation is expected to include senior government and public-sector officials, providing an opportunity for the two countries to exchange experiences around institutional reform, digital government and public-sector performance.
APSCA 2026 is expected to attract more than 400 senior delegates from more than 10 African countries, including ministers, heads of public service, chief executives of public institutions and state-owned enterprises, regulators, development partners and private-sector executives.
The conference’s agenda will extend beyond political governance to areas including public finance, procurement, energy, digital government, education, public-private partnerships, sustainability, customer experience and youth empowerment.
Made-in-Africa Innovation Joins Governance Agenda
The Made in Africa Festival, the conference’s exhibition component, will complement the governance discussions by showcasing African innovation, infrastructure, technology, trade and investment opportunities.
The combination is significant because African development increasingly depends on the ability of public institutions to create an environment in which technology companies, entrepreneurs and investors can scale.
Governance is therefore becoming inseparable from questions of connectivity, digital skills, energy, data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and access to capital.
For Nigeria, Yilwatda’s participation offers an opportunity to present the country’s digital transformation initiatives within that wider continental development conversation.
Yilwatda’s Keynote and Nigeria’s 2030 Governance Challenge
The central question facing APSCA 2026 is what kind of institutions Africa needs to achieve its development ambitions by 2030.
Yilwatda’s keynote will approach that question from the perspective of a governing political party, linking political mandates with institutional capacity, digital transformation and long-term development.
For Nigeria, the Accra engagement provides a continental platform to present the Tinubu administration’s reform agenda, including its investments in digital infrastructure, digital public infrastructure, identity management and emerging-technology regulation.
The broader test, however, will be implementation: whether reforms announced and institutions established today produce measurable improvements in public services, economic opportunity, digital inclusion and institutional effectiveness over time.
That is ultimately the governance proposition behind Yilwatda’s “Party as Platform” message—moving from electoral mandates to institutions and systems capable of sustaining development.
