Still, there is a lot to be thankful for. And so, in our special version of ’12 days of Christmas’, we’ll remind you – with the Good News only – of the reasons why things have not all been bad so far.

Without further ado:

2016 sent to us:

Mark Zuckerberg’s visit;

Help from MMM;

The release of 21 Chibok girls;

Some N-powerment;

The Dream Team;

The Clean Up;

a teenage technovator;

PENCOM getting it right;

Wizkid’s international status;

Ayodele Dada;

The Number 1 best female football team in Africa;

Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to Nigeria

What would this be if we didn’t mention the August visit of Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria. It is the final seal of approval – if there was any need for it – of all the achievements of the brilliant members of Nigeria’s tech eco-system.

As one would probably expect of someone like him, he took the country by surprise the moment the news of his arrival broke. During his short visit, he met with tech developers and entrepreneurs, visited as many startups as he could and attended the Federal Government-organised Aso Demo Day where he got the opportunity to listen to shortlisted entrepreneurs pitch tech ideas to the President and his team. He even jugged with the cool kids on the Lekki-Ikoyi bridge.

This was definitely one of this year’s highlights.