The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) has unveiled the results of the national Digital Trade Survey and Mapping Exercise. The unveiling event took place on the sidelines of the inaugural African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Digital Trade Forum, hosted by the AfCFTA Secretariat in Lusaka, Zambia.Nigeria, as co-champion of Digital Trade under AfCFTA, reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to building an inclusive and globally competitive digital economy.
In early April, FMITI Minister, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, issued a nationwide call for submissions and led active stakeholder engagement to ensure participation in Nigeria’s Digital Trade Survey.
The result is Africa’s first-ever digital services directory, a resource offering detailed insights into Nigeria’s fast-growing digital economy and its potential to scale across the continent.
Speaking on the significance of the survey, Oduwole said: “I am proud to unveil the findings from Nigeria’s first-of-its-kind digital mapping effort. This snapshot of 17 dynamic sectors provides deep insights into our digital economy and the ambitions of its trailblazers. Through this national survey, we have confirmed that Nigeria is not just participating in Africa’s digital revolution; we are helping shape it. We had set out to identify Nigeria’s digital service providers, pinpoint priority African markets, inform national policy and shape Nigeria’s leadership in implementing the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade.”
Spelling out the initial key findings, she said Nigeria’s digital services sector is heavily youth-driven. She explained: “Nigerian innovation is powered by youths, with 41 per cent of digital entrepreneurs under 35 years old. Over half of all surveyed digital services firms emerged in just the last three years. While men lead 73 per cent of digital firms overall, women are breaking boundaries in high-impact sectors. Women lead 64 per cent of healthcare digital businesses and 48 per cent of education tech firms.
“Nigeria commands leadership in many digital sectors, especially computing and infrastructure services, professional services like legal and advisory, as well as financial services, with fintech powered by digital payment platforms.
“Over 90 per cent of surveyed digital services firms are headquartered in Nigeria, underlining strong Indigenous innovation and leadership. Yet, strategic foreign partnerships and investments reflect rising global confidence in Nigeria’s digital maturity. While Nigerian digital services are scaling across the continent, five countries are of particular interest. The Ghana–Kenya–South Africa corridor dominates, while Rwanda and Egypt are also notable destinations.”
Also noting that business formalisation accelerates appetite and capacity for cross–border operations, she said registered companies make up 75 per cent of surveyed firms and expand more aggressively than sole proprietorships, validating Nigeria’s ongoing push for business formalisation.
She said Nigeria will build on these strategic insights to commence a robust market access and regulatory support programme that will include support for Nigeria’s digital services firms to expand across the African market through trade diplomacy and market access programmes as well as targeted interventions for women to launch and scale digital services firms across all sectors.
“At the heart of this effort is the launch of Africa’s first comprehensive Digital Services Directory that offers insights into the innovation, scale and operations of Nigeria’s digital services firms,” she stated.
