Facebook Owner, Mark Zuckerberg, In Nigeria

We’ve just confirmed that Mark Zuckerberg is at the CoCreation Hub, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria at this very moment. Apparently, he arrived this afternoon and is meeting with a few key players in the Nigerian tech ecosystem.

Mark was in Rome with his wife, Priscilla, until a few hours ago (according to his Facebook page). He held a Q&A session, visited the Pope and did a few “touristy” things. This visit to Nigeria wasn’t announced so you’ll permit if I go off into speculation.

There’s been a lot of Facebook-related development in Nigeria so there’s a ton of reasons why Mark may be visiting. First, Free Basics launched in Nigeria and Mark showed his support for the Jobberman team. Then the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative invested $24 million in Andela. Facebook’s developer workshop is happening tomorrow, and yesterday, we reported that Facebook is partnering with Cool Link to launch Express Wifi in Lagos some time this week.

I reckon Mark is in Nigeria to kill all these birds – visit Jobberman, the Andela team he’s invested in, attend the developer workshop, launch Express Wifi AND have policy-centred conversations with the Nigerian government to further Facebook’s cause.

You’ll know more when we know more.