Some experts from Nigeria’s FinTech and blockchain subsector have said that Nigeria needs to review the regulations guiding its digital economy, to make the most of the opportunities in it.
The stakeholders opine that the country’s digital economy was currently underutilized and unharnessed.
The experts who spoke at the 2022 Legal Business conference held in Lagos said that Nigeria was losing billions due to its inability to maximize the potential in the sector.
According to the stakeholders, pairing Nigeria’s huge youth population with the level of entrepreneurship and innovation in the country, its potential remains high but underutilized.
To catch up with other progressive economies, Nigeria must firstly, boost financial inclusion by embracing both public and private digital platforms to support digital services and e-commerce
and digital financial services to boost financial inclusion.
The country must also invest in digital infrastructure and broadband connectivity in both urban and rural areas, to achieve this feat, the experts said. A recent report through an African Union initiative supported by the World Bank Group concluded that Nigeria, as Africa’s biggest economy had the potential to tremendously tap into the potential of the digital economy.
The report had recommended that the country strengthens its digital infrastructure, unlock investment, boost skills training for its youth population, and implement reformsthat would create jobs and diversify the economy.
According to the report, “the longstanding problems of the country were also jeopardizing Nigeria’s digital growth: the country has an active and growing eCommerce industry, but millions can’t access digital financial services because they lack basic identification records.”
In a new report by the World bank titled, “The digital economy for Africa initiative.”, the bank faulted the pace at which traditional financial institutions and even Governments were adopting the emerging digital economy.
Stakeholders have also identified that the quest for a digital economy would require efforts from both public and private players in the sector.
