The nation’s e-commerce market is anticipated to exceed $16 billion by 2030, supported by pioneering platforms like Jumia and Konga as digital transformation heightens.
The dean, Lagos Enterprise College(LBS), Professor Olayinka David-West, who said this on the thirty fifth annual convention of the Finance Correspondents Affiliation of Nigeria (FICAN) held on Saturday in Lagos beneath the theme, ‘Bracing for the Digital Economic system in Nigeria: Taxation, Banking and Finance,’ emphasised the necessity for Nigeria to embark on a transformative digital journey that may redefine its economic system and considerably enhance the standard of life for its residents.
David-West, who was represented by Prof. Akintola Owolabi of the division of Price and Administration Accounting at LBS, said that, the convention theme was well timed and important for Nigeria’s sustainable growth.
David-West affirmed that, the strategic imaginative and prescient at LBS aligns intently with advancing digital transformation and selling monetary inclusion, aiming to develop the leaders wanted to navigate and drive this rising panorama. Nigeria’s digital economic system is present process exceptional development, energised by a younger and dynamic inhabitants alongside fast digital adoption.
In line with the Nigerian Communications Fee’s 2024 report, web penetration has reached 43.5 per cent, with over 163 million Nigerians on-line as of March 2024. The telecommunications sector contributes round 18 to twenty per cent to Nigeria’s GDP, highlighting the important position of data and communication know-how (ICT) as a driving power within the economic system.
David-West identified that, “this digital revolution transcends statistics; it reshapes commerce, providers, and livelihoods. Our burgeoning e-commerce market, projected to exceed $16 billion by 2030, is fuelled by trailblazing platforms like Jumia and Konga.
“Modern logistics startups similar to Kwik and GIGL illustrate how digital applied sciences spawn completely new worth chains, enhancing efficiencies and increasing financial alternatives. Such developments promise exponential employment features, diversification away from oil dependence, and transformative service supply throughout sectors.”
The Nigerian monetary sector, she stated, is each a driver and beneficiary of the digital revolution and that, in 2024, Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem attracted over $2 billion in investments, sustaining its place because the continent’s monetary know-how powerhouse, including that, this capital inflow is propelling groundbreaking improvements that redefine monetary transactions and inclusion.
She additionally stated, main Nigerian banks, together with Entry Financial institution and GTBank, harness cutting-edge applied sciences like Synthetic Intelligence (AI) and Machine Studying (ML) to boost fraud detection, personalise providers, optimise credit score scoring, and deploy AI-enhanced buyer help.
Equally and in addressing taxation throughout the digital economic system, she stated, there are each challenges and substantial alternatives for income technology. Since January 2022, Nigeria has carried out a six per cent Digital Providers Tax (DST) on non-resident digital service suppliers, complementing present VAT on international digital providers and capitalising on the increasing digital market, she harassed.
She cited an instance of this initiative, which is the digital cash switch levy, which imposes a N50 payment on recipients of financial institution transfers of N10,000 and above, serving as a priceless income stream in Nigeria’s evolving digital funds panorama.
David-West highlighted how digital funds and cellular cash providers can function a basis for formalising huge casual sectors, enhancing tax compliance, and integrating companies into formal monetary techniques.
Trying forward, she famous that, “the interconnection of digital transformation throughout banking, finance, and taxation is a strong catalyst for Nigeria’s financial development. Seamless digital fee techniques facilitate environment friendly tax assortment, broaden monetary inclusion, and supply vital knowledge for evidence-based policy-making and enforcement.”
In line with her, encouragingly, the Central Financial institution of Nigeria’s sandbox framework, which is already operational, provides a managed setting for innovation inside fintech, permitting for regulatory experimentation that helps the expansion of Nigeria’s digital monetary panorama. In the meantime, the chairman of the Finance Correspondents Affiliation of Nigeria (FICAN), Chima Titus, stated, ‘this yr, our convention theme is each well timed and pressing, specializing in the digital economic system, taxation, banking, and finance.’He stated that, “globally, the digital economic system has advanced from being merely a promising frontier to a vital spine of contemporary development. In Nigeria and throughout Africa, we discover ourselves getting ready to a big transformation pushed by knowledge, digital funds, synthetic intelligence, and cross-border innovation.”He famous that, “Present statistics underscore our potential: the ICT sector contributed 18.3 per cent to Nigeria’s GDP within the second quarter of 2025, and digital fee transactions exceeded N600 trillion within the first half of the identical yr, showcasing a 22 per cent year-on-year development. Cellular cash utilization has surpassed 73 million, efficiently reaching rural communities that had been beforehand excluded.”
“To additional solidify these developments, he famous that, the Central Financial institution of Nigeria has launched the Cost System Imaginative and prescient 2020, a complete blueprint for the digital future, incorporating AI, block chain settlements, and cross-border funds enabled by the African Continental Free Commerce Space, including that no sturdy digital economic system can flourish with out an equitable and efficient tax Framework.Trade stakeholders, together with the Federal Inland Income Service (FIRS), Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN), and main banks converged to share insights and form Nigeria’s digital economic system roadmap on the occasion.
