Nigeria is already on a path to digitalisation as it would cease to engage in manual operations by 2030.
Nigeria, according to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has developed a draft of National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy which captures a digital Nigeria that would ensure there will be no manual operations in the next ten years in order to have a digital Nigeria.
The minister therefore appealed to states and local governments to key into the policy. “We are not telling Nigerians to migrate into the digital economy in order to start taxing them unnecessarily. The price of data, mobile devices must come down for the digital economy to thrive,” he said.
He added that, “we want to embark on massive training of Nigerians on digital literacy and skills. Want to ensure that at least 95 per cent of Nigerians are digital literate. We want to enhance the penetration of broadband especially in the underserved and unserved areas in the country through the deployment of solid infrastructure.”
He noted that increasing broadband penetration by just 10 per cent can increase the nation’s GDP to promote digital innovation and digital entrepreneurship.
“Global digital economy is worth $16. 9 trillion. Focus is now on skills and not certificates, without skills, certificates are misleading. Providing skills for your citizen’s means you are producing potential employers that will employ others,” he said.
