FG intends to reframe the digital economy

In an effort to promote development and innovation, the federal government has revealed plans to rebase the nation’s digital economy.

This was recently revealed in a Linkedin statement by Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy.

The process of modernizing the measures and approaches used to gauge how much the digital economy contributes to the wider economy is known as “rebasing the digital economy.”

The minister stated, “I had an extremely progressive discussion with the National Bureau of Statistics today, led by the Statistician General, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, on their ongoing efforts to rebase the digital economy, which will help us better understand and support growth in the sector.

“I am excited about the work they are doing, as it will help us calculate total factor productivity better and enable us to showcase the contribution of the digital economy to the broader Nigerian economy.

“To support the NBS’s efforts, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy will be setting up a ministry-wide committee to accelerate their efforts to properly calculate and rebase the sector,” he said.

By rebasing GDP, Nigeria’s economy surpassed South Africa’s to become the largest in Africa in 2014, growing from $270 billion to $510 billion.

Tijani has been named co-chair of the Digital Innovation Board of the International Telecommunication Union in the interim.

The declaration was made at the board’s inaugural meeting, which was recently held in Geneva.

As co-chair, Tijani would work with Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, the chair and director of ITU-BDT, and Neeraj Mittal, the co-chair and secretary of the Indian Department of Telecommunications.

In order to promote a more inclusive and fair digital future for everybody, the minister said in a statement that they will offer strategic direction, knowledge, and advocacy for the ITU’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development.

The accelerated delivery of key priorities, such as trend research preparedness, open technology innovation, entrepreneurship and SME growth, policy experimentation, and ecosystem initiative acceleration, will be the Digital Innovation Board’s primary priority, according to Tijani.

The minister noted, “The Digital Innovation Board, which I am honoured to serve as co-chair alongside the chair, Cosmass Zavazava, Director, ITU-BDT, and my fellow co-chair, Neeraj Mittal, India’s Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications, will provide strategic guidance, expertise, and advocacy for ITU’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development, to achieve its objectives.

“The board will also support the acceleration of the delivery of the following priorities: trend research readiness, open technology innovation, entrepreneurship and SME growth, policy experimentation, and ecosystem initiative acceleration.”