The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has projected that Nigeria could generate between six to ten billion dollars yearly as revenue by year 2030 if the blockchain technology potentials are fully explored for national development.
The Director General of the agency, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, gave the projection at a stakeholders’ engagement for the review of the National Blockchain Adoption Strategy Framework on Thursday in Abuja,
The technology expert explained that since blockchain technology had become an economic enabling tool in recent years, representing one of the emerging technologies propelling growth of economies globally, Nigeria would continue to explore its opportunities for development.
The NITDA boss said: “We see the need for us to position our country well so we can capture value from blockchain. There is a recent publication by PriceWaterhouseCoppers (PWC), an international institution that indicated that in the next 10 years, blockchain is going to contribute 1.76 trillion dollars to the global Gross Domestic Development by 2030.
“We want Nigeria to be strategically placed to capture value from this economic potential of blockchain.
Based on the PwC analysis, China is going to get the highest net worth potential from blockchain technology, because it is projected that by 2030, China will capture over 460 billion dollars.
“In Nigeria, looking at our youthful population, which is mainly digitally native and with our position in Africa, we are looking at how we can get at least around six to 10 billion dollars by the year 2030”, Inuwa added.
Expatiating on the projected revenue from the blockchain technology, the NITDA boss stressed that the target was achievable since Nigeria’s payment and financial services remained huge just as Nigeria had been identified as a hotspot for Fintech in Africa.
Inuwa pointed out that opportunities in blockchain technology could be explored through provincial services, payment services, digital identity, customer engagement, contract and dispute resolution applications, among others.
The Director-General said that it was important for Nigeria to discover its competences and adopt the application that could generate income.
He also said that the blockchain technology interfaced with the eight pillars of the National Digital Economy Strategy and Policy towards building a digital economy.
Inuwa called on stakeholders to fashion out flexible and implementable strategies for immediate execution that government can leverage on for job creation.
“We are looking at coming up with strategy to help the country capture value from financial services, land administration, education and health care. Blockchain is going to play a key role in terms of creating, tracing products and services, ” he said.
The technology expert recalled that COVID-19 pandemic had compelled people and nations to devise secured ways of transacting businesses and that one of the ways is blockchain technology.
Earlier in his address at the forum, the agency’s Director, IT Infrastructure Solutions, Dr Usman Gambo, explained that the adoption of blockchain technology conformed to government’s policy of creating a digital economy for the benefit of citizens.
Gambo said the mechanism of blockchain was complex but the benefits outweigh its challenges.
