Before the covid-19 pandemic, the world was gradually moving towards digital economy. Between 2010 and 2015, tech companies on United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ranking of top 100 Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) more than doubled. Their assets increased by 65 percent while their operating revenues and employees increased by 30 percent compared to other top 100 MNEs.
The covid-19 pandemic left many countries with no other option but to accelerate digital economy policy formulation and implementation. One good thing that will come out of the covid-19 pandemic is the global embrace of digital economy.
For Nigeria, the country’s youthful population has been active with digital economy with the application of various e-retail outlets, transportation, and various transactions that are carried out online. Nigeria, with huge population has the highest online market according to Euromonitor International data. The group said that by 2019, e-commerce transactions in the country have soared to USD1,077 million from USD104 million it was in 2014.
In 2017, Nigeria launched the Smart Nigeria Digital Economy Project to solve efficiency problems and create leap-frog opportunities in the economy, improve competitiveness and foster technology development. Also in 2019, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) unveiled the Nigeria Smart Initiative Policy Framework (NSIPF) meant to promote smart innovations and boost digital innovations in Nigeria.
The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Patami, who was the Director-General of the agency then, said the policy would provide strong foundation for adopting digital-inclined solutions needed to solve the numerous challenges facing the country. The NSIPF falls in line with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017-2020 (ERGP) of the Federal Government.
In spite the government commitment to digital economy, digital infrastructure remains deficient with most rural areas lacking connection to broadband services. Millions of Nigerians also lack formal identification record with various government agencies handling public identification for various purposes.
Also, the country being the largest economy in the African continent has huge digital skills gap and poor policy environment to improve and promote digital entrepreneurship.
The inclusion of digital economy in the ERGP 2017-2020 shows the government is interested in exploring the potentials inherent in digital economy. The COVID-19 pandemic that calls for restricted physical contact and gathering should then be the spring board to fully develop the potentials and values in digital economy.
Surprisingly, these potentials would remain a mirage if there is no improvement in digital infrastructure.
While countries across the world are upgrading their technology applications to 5 Generation (5G), there are various communities in Nigeria that are yet to get connected to 2G. There is therefore the need to invest in digital infrastructure development, the basis of any step towards digital economy. The government must also straighten digital platforms, increase access to digital financial services, improve the policy environment for digital entrepreneurship and close the digital knowledge gap in the country.
