Nigeria, the seventh largest country in the world by population and the largest in Africa, has become a booming tech hub. It has seen rapid open source growth over the past three years, according to data from GitHub. Last year, Nigeria had a 65.9% increase in contributors — the highest percentage growth of any country — according to GitHub's most recent State of the Octoverse report. Between 2018 and 2019, it also topped GitHub's ranking of the countries with the greatest surge in open source projects, with 59% growth.

Nigeria's surge in open source development is part of a larger boost to its tech ecosystem, spurred by increasing investment — both from venture capitalists and big tech companies like Facebook — and a spate of successful startups, like Flutterwave and Paystack. This boom has driven the enthusiasm of a young citizenry that sees technology as a viable career path, with open source development in particular becoming an attractive gateway into the field. With a strong community focus, open source in Nigeria has helped snowball the tech industry's growth overall.

In this episode, Uchechukwu Ajuzieogu talks to Yusuf Kamaldeen on the scope of community building and advocacy in the Nigerian tech communities and more.