The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, said that the financial services within Nigeria’s digital economy would add 88 billion dollars and create over three million new jobs over the next 10 years.
Enelamah said this in a statement by Ms Constance Ikokwu, Strategy and Communications Adviser to the minister.
Enelamah said this in Geneva, Switzerland where ministers from developing countries met to put forward a policy agenda to bridge the digital divide as well as provide development solutions in the long term.
The countries are Nigeria, Mexico, Kenya, Argentina, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica and Pakistan which was under the auspices of Friends of E-Commerce for Development (FED).
“The job figures are in line with estimates of a study carried out by McKinsey Global Institute.
“Further studies indicate that potential gains of the digital economy will be manifest in digital accounts, payments, mobile money, health and educational services and other sectors of the economy,’’ he said.
Enelamah said the ministry was already developing the “Smart Nigeria Digital Economy Project” and that the objective was to solve efficiency problems and create leap-frog opportunities in the economy.
“The Smart Nigeria Digital Economy Project is Nigeria’s response to an area of intense economic and technological activity by Nigerian youths, where there is a growing pool of talent.
“It is a sector of the economy where the private sector already has ownership.
“The role of government would therefore be to ensure a sound pro-competitive regulatory environment and hardware infrastructure to foster rapid growth of this area”.
Enelamah said there were currently 150 million active mobile users in a country of 170 million, of which over 60 per cent were connected to the internet.
He added that there were some 17 million Facebook users and new technology start-ups and young people writing apps that could solve problems and spur growth. (NAN)