Nadeem Anjarwalla, the Director for Binance West & East Africa, has something to say over the recently approved National Blockchain Adoption strategy 2023 document, particularly, the expectations among industry players.
Recall that Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) recently released the updated 2023 National Blockchain Adoption strategy document, which contains more details than the 2020 document.
Brief overview
The Agency noted that the Nigerian government is inclined to employ its statutory responsibility towards emerging technologies to come up with corresponding strategies for a healthy ecosystem.
Truly, Blockchain Technology is getting more popular as a quarter of large enterprises are venturing into blockchain, a figure expected to jump to more than 50% by 2020. For the government, the concern has been how the technology can be used to foster healthy growth of the nation’s digital economy in a secure way. Several governments have been awoken by this spate of emerging technologies and have published strategies and policies to guide the adoption of these technologies, including blockchain technology.
In that light, NITDA said there is a need to have the right regulatory instruments and implementation strategy for the government to be able to guide the adoption of the technology by the public.
Blockchain technology undoubtedly holds great potential for the development of Nigeria’s digital economy.
“A lot of the focus has been on cryptocuurencies, especially bitcoin, however there is a lot more that blockchain can do for the economy and this embracing the use of blockchain technologies and an April 2020 report by Tracxn, a leading global research company, notes that Lagos alone had about 34 startups that focused on blockchain but an overwhelming 75% of them were in payment related businesses”, the Agency said.
The strategy document provides an overview of the blockchain technology and the reasons Nigeria needs to support a national adoption.
It also outlines and proposes a suitable blockchain adoption model for Nigeria, explores the requirements and provides a roadmap for implementation.
It will help in mitigating the risks regarding its implementation by government agencies, and corporate organizations. The strategy shall support the government to take advantage of the potential of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) in the country, by supporting the digital transformation in several sectors and preventing risks related to their use.
What does strategy hold for the Blockchain industry in Nigeria?
Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance West & East Africa Director, has this to say on the policy document and what it means for the Nigerian blockchain industry:
“Through the approval of the National Blockchain Adoption policy, Nigeria is positioning itself as a nation significantly ahead of the curve – supporting further blockchain innovation, user protection, security and economic competitiveness in the long term. While still in the early stages, we are pleased to see this development as it will aid clarity, trust and confidence in the ecosystem.
– NadeemWe believe that growth in blockchain technology is set to become a key differentiator for economies and a key measure of international competitiveness in the next decade for attracting foreign direct investment, cultivating innovation and creating jobs. As such, this is a welcome development and a significant milestone for the blockchain industry in Nigeria.
We commend the all-encompassing approach laid out in the reviewed policy document based on the 6 key initiatives: i. Establishment of Nigeria Blockchain Consortium. ii. Strengthening of the Regulatory and legal framework. iii. Focus of the provision of National Digital Identity. iv. Promotion of Blockchain digital literacy and awareness. v. Creation of Blockchain business incentive programmes. vi. Establishment of a national blockchain sandbox for proof of concepts and pilot implementation.”
Chainalysis, a global blockchain analysis company, in its 2019-2020 Geography of Cyptocurrency Report, stated that a survey of 154 countries showed that Nigeria ranked 8th in its blockchain global adoption index. Nigeria also topped the African peer-to-peer payment charts having moved mover $139million over the period under review.
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