Nigeria aims to become one of the leaders in the African digital economy.  To achieve its goal, it is signing partnerships with countries that share the same objectives.

Nigeria's Minister of Communication, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, signed two memorandums of understanding in New Delhi, India, last Wednesday.  The first agreement, signed with the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, aims to share the best digital solutions that would benefit citizens in both countries. 

The second partnership, signed with the Central Square Foundation team, a non-profit organization working to ensure quality school education in India, aims to develop solutions that leverage technology to facilitate education in Nigeria. 

“The collaboration between our countries gives us a platform to build on the upward trajectory of digital transformation as a driver of economic growth,”  Dr. Bosun Tijani indicated in a post on X (formerly Twitter). 

The MoU were signed on the sidelines of the 18th G20 Summit, to be held from Saturday, September 9 to Sunday, September 10 in New Delhi. They come at a time when the Nigerian government is stepping up efforts to attract additional investors to the country, increase funding to support Nigerian innovators and expand resources for local entrepreneurs. With such initiatives, the government wants to create one million jobs in the digital economy and improve digital literacy among the youth.

By choosing India to support those digital projects, Nigeria is making a strategic move. Indeed, in less than 10 years, India's digital penetration rate has more than doubled. In 2015, the world's fifth-largest economy launched "Digital India", an ambitious program to transform India into "a digital society and knowledge economy."

Samira Njoya