Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has called for the creation of an African Single Digital Market (ASDM) that would help build data sovereignty in the continent.
The minister, who stated this at the Global Privacy Day Celebration 2021, in Abuja, Thursday, noted that, the Oxford Economics values the global digital market at $11.5 trillion dollars or 16 per cent of the Global Economy. This value is expected to grow significantly over the coming years. McKinsey and Company has predicted that the Digital Economy in Africa is expected to grow to over $300 billion by 2025.
“The World Economic Forum predicts that over 60% of global GDP will be digitized by 2022 and that over the next decade, digital platforms will be used to create close to 70% of new value and jobs. Most nations are prioritizing the need to develop their digital economies because they realize the multiplier effects that this can have on all other sectors of the economy.
“I implore the African Union Commission and our international partners to support Nigeria’s call for creating an African Single Digital Market (ASDM). This would enable the continent gain the advantage of economies of 1.3 billion people.
The ASDM would also help us have data sovereignty in such a way as to protect data while also protecting the multinational technology investors,” he said.
According to the minister, the digital economy is developing at a remarkable rate and has been widely accepted as the single most important driver of innovation, competitiveness and growth.
“The digital economy is fundamentally transforming the way societies; businesses including the business of governance operate and deliver services.
The currency of the digital economy is personal data. Digital platforms require information such as names, emails, phone numbers, geo-data among other personally identifiable information to be able to fulfill their service promise and to do effective marketing. Data must therefore be harnessed and properly regulated in order to achieve an orderly use of such valuable asset.”
Director-general National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Abdullahi Inuwa Kashifu stated that with the giant strides Nigeria have achieved in the digital economy effort, “the issue of identity, data collection and management are imperative and we must put in place the necessary mechanisms to get things right.”
The theme for the 2021 Privacy Week celebration in Nigeria is “Harnessing Data as Critical Infrastructure for the Digital Economy.”
