Industry leaders have highlighted that Nigeria’s digital economy will require stronger local infrastructure, trusted digital identity and skilled talent to translate the country’s growing technology adoption into greater economic value.
The stakeholders made the remarks in Lagos last week, at the inaugural GrowthX by Techeconomy & TiLAwards.
President of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Adesola Akinsanya, delivering a goodwill message, said Nigeria’s digital growth could no longer be driven by technology alone, insisting that collaboration among people, institutions and businesses would be critical to turning innovation into economic impact.
“Digital growth is no longer driven by technology alone. It is driven by what happens when technology, people, institutions, businesses decide to move in the same direction, and at the same time, and with the same sense of purpose,” he said.
Akinsanya said the gap between Nigeria’s digital potential and its real-life economic impact could be narrowed through three critical elements: trust, talent and infrastructure that carries a Nigerian identity.
“The gap closes only when three things are in place. Trust that people can rely on, talent that can build on it, and infrastructure that carries a Nigerian name,” Akinsanya said.
According to him, NiRA had focused on developing local digital capacity through initiatives such as the .ng Academy, while also strengthening trust in the country’s internet infrastructure through domain name security.
“We believe digital growth is not only about servers, satellites, or cables. It is about people who understand, manage, and create value from that technology. That is why we built the .ng Academy.”
He outlined NiRA’s implementation of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), describing it as a technological safeguard designed to protect .ng domains from being hijacked.
Chief Executive Officer, Open Access Data Centre (OADC), Dr. Ayotunde Coker, in his opening remarks, placed Nigeria’s digital transformation within the broader context of the economy, arguing that information technology now underpins virtually every major sector.
According to Coker, the contribution of technology to Nigeria’s GDP had grown significantly over the years, but he argued that its wider economic impact went beyond what official GDP measurements capture.
He cited banking, oil and gas, government services and other sectors as examples of areas whose operations increasingly depend on digital infrastructure.
“You can’t move money without information technology. Even oil and gas needs information technology for its exploration. You can’t operate banking without information technology,” he said.
Coker stressed that the reliability of digital infrastructure was particularly important for financial institutions, noting that failures in power, data centres or connectivity could have consequences that extend beyond technology operations.
“If you don’t have power, your data centre can’t operate. If your data centre doesn’t operate, your connectivity systems are down. Your banking platforms are down. The entire bank just goes quiet,” he said.
He explained that the country’s digital infrastructure ecosystem had also evolved considerably, with improvements in connectivity, data centres and subsea cable capacity creating a stronger foundation for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, he added that the growth of cloud computing, smartphones, connectivity, big data, blockchain and AI was creating a new phase of technological development in Nigeria.
He also highlighted Nigeria’s position in the subsea cable ecosystem, pointing to the expansion in international connectivity capacity following the arrival of major cables.
Dr. Coker said the development of hyperscale data centres and AI-ready infrastructure would further shape Nigeria’s ability to participate in the next phase of the digital economy.
The remarks point to a growing emphasis on the infrastructure beneath Nigeria’s digital transformation, from domain security and local digital identity to data centres, connectivity, cloud infrastructure and the skills required to operate them.
Akinsanya added that infrastructure alone would not be sufficient without collaboration and trust.
“Nigeria’s digital growth will be strongest not when we have more technology, but when innovation is matched with collaboration. Trust, local digital identity, and skilled people, all working within an ecosystem that lets businesses participate and grow,” he said.
He urged stakeholders to prioritise collaboration as Nigeria seeks to build a digital economy in which businesses can scale and more citizens can participate.
