International Telecommunications Union Explains Steps To Boost Nigeria’s Digital Economy
… the report evaluated countries’ legal, policy, and governance frameworks towards achieving an advanced state of digital transformation, known as G5.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has ranked Nigeria at 71 percent in its readiness for digital transformation, placing it among the top seven countries in Africa.
According to the United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies, Germany, Finland, and Singapore led the global chart. Despite this feat, the ITU outlined nine steps for Nigeria to boost its digital transformation.
The recommendations were made in its report titled, ‘Collaborative Regulation: Accelerating Nigeria’s Digital Transformation,’ conducted in collaboration with the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO). The report evaluated countries’ legal, policy, and governance frameworks towards achieving an advanced state of digital transformation, known as G5.
The UN body and its partners outlined the following steps that the NCC and stakeholders to facilitate digital transformation in the country:
1. Promote locally-driven digital transformational
Market development with a locally relevant developmental impact should be at the forefront of Nigeria’s digital transformation
“Areas that could be considered for intervention include the promotion of local hosting of cloud services, the wider adoption of mobile money, and broader digital financial service innovation and uptake. Improvements in those areas will have an impact across the economy,” ITU said.
According to Statista’s report, Nigeria’s cloud market will reach $828m in 2024. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has also noted that cloud adoption in Nigeria is expected to yield N30.2 trillion in economic value between 2023 and 2033.
2. Provide policy certainty and predictability
According to the ITU, a long-term policy framework will help create certainty for policymakers, regulators, and market players.
“This needs to be complemented by a keen focus on associated implementation plans for such a framework, the legal and regulatory instruments supporting it, and a reduction in legal and regulatory lags,” it said. It added that the development of long-term policies and constant and consistent implementation monitoring and evaluation will enhance certainty and predictability.
3. Maintain a high level of regulatory maturity in the fast-evolving digital environment
“In order for NCC to lead the required collaboration effectively, it needs to be sufficiently mature and agile,” the ITU said.
“Nigeria’s NCC fairs well in terms of its maturity and is encouraged to continue to manage the ‘basic’ telecommunication regulatory processes and standards that it mastered on its path to G4 regulation, such as transparent public consultation processes, impact analysis, and research,” it added.
4. Enhance the quality of collaboration
The NCC has made significant strides in fostering collaboration with other government agencies and stakeholders. However, despite these efforts, the ITU believes Nigeria’s level of inter-agency cooperation still lags behind international standards.
“Notwithstanding this inter-agency collaboration attempts by the NCC, it is important to note that the international benchmarks generally place Nigeria’s performance in the third quartile.”
It added, “This implies that while in many instances substantial steps have been taken to collaborate, the depth and quality of collaboration between regulators and with other stakeholders needs to continue to improve. This will strengthen the shift from consultation to collaboration and will improve implementation outcomes.”
5. Institutional frameworks should support role clarity, policy coherence, and lean governance
The ITU noted that government agencies should maintain some independence in their functions. It also recommended that where there are overlaps, gaps, or a lack of clarity, steps should be taken to address the resultant ineffective policy implementation.
It said, “While responsibility for digital transformation at the federal level is shared between the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy agencies (such as NCC, NBC, and NITDA), there are a large number of other government agencies that impact digital transformation and e-government implementation, which leads to issues of responsibility overlaps and ineffective coordination.
“In instances where there are overlaps, gaps or a lack of clarity, as in the case of NCC and NITDA, there is a need to clarify uncertainty, take steps to reduce forum shopping, and address ineffective policy implementation.”
6. Expand collaboration and create new partnerships
The ITU stated that Nigeria needs stronger collaboration between government agencies to implement ICT policies effectively.
“The ITU recommends enhanced collaboration among Nigerian government agencies to drive digital transformation. This includes strengthening partnerships between the NCC and ministries like health and education, improving cooperation between NITDA and other sectors for effective ICT policy implementation, fostering collaboration among regulatory bodies for cross-sector innovation, and enhancing cooperation between federal and state ICT authorities,” it said.
7. Promote innovation
The ITU stated that all government agencies must promote innovation and development in the various sectors of cybersecurity, communications and technology.
8. Improve the cybersecurity framework
Although it acknowledged the efforts of the institutions put in place to fight cybercrime, the ITU recommended an improved cybersecurity framework.
“While various instruments and institutions are in place to combat cybercrime and enhance cybersecurity capacity and capabilities, efforts of different stakeholders need better coordination and communication,” it said. “The National CyberSecurity Policy 2022 prescribes a single national CERT and sector CSIRTs. Only a few sector-specific CSIRTs and focal points are active. This needs to be remedied given the cross-sector impact of cyber-crime.”
9. Develop detailed plans or roadmaps for digital skills and adoption
The ITU noted that Nigeria needs a comprehensive approach to digital transformation. It explained that while policies exist to boost digital literacy and broadband, effective implementation requires detailed plans and strong collaboration. Government agencies must work together to achieve the goal of 95 percent digital literacy by 2030.
