The Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, approved the blockchain policy to be institutionalised in Nigeria.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isah Pantami revealed this while briefing journalists on what transpired at the weekly FEC meeting.
He said the national blockchain policy for Nigeria would impact all sectors of the economy, including the electoral process by way of guaranteed data management.
Although earlier launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 28, 2019, Pantami explained that the concept has eight pillars.
“In order to consolidate the implementation of the emerging technology pillar, the federal government of Nigeria today approved the National Blockchain Policy for Nigeria. This policy was developed through consultation with our stakeholders.
“About 56 institutions and personalities were involved in the process of conceptualising, developing and reviewing the policy. With the approval of the national blockchain policy for Nigeria today, we can safely say that blockchain technology with all its components and types has been institutionalised in the country,” he told reporters.
Buttressing how the policy would impact Nigeria positively, Pantanmi said a research conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers PwC predicted that by 2030, blockchain technology could be able to add USD1.76 trillion to the global GDP.
According to the minister, African countries are left out of the equation in the first, second and third industrial revolutions.
He said it is only in the fourth industrial revolution that we are not far away from the developed countries, hence, it becomes imperative for us to be proactive.
“With this approval. We join the very few countries that have legalised and approved blockchain in the accounts like United Kingdom, Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Georgia, Singapore and United Arab Emirates. These are the few countries. They are not many. So now we have joined them and we are being proactive to ensure that with the policy, we will increase our talent development.
“We will discover our young innovators, give them all the necessary support they need, as provided by Nigeria startup act 2022 and also ensure the adoption of the technology, particularly as we know blockchain technology ensures information integrity or data integrity.
“It is also applicable even for the Independent National Electoral Commission, where you need to preserve the integrity of data by the adoption of blockchain technology. In the process, we will reach a situation where content or information or data at their disposal cannot be altered. So with this approval, the blockchain and all its components and types have been approved in Nigeria and regulatory bodies are to immediately develop the regulatory instruments within the sector for effective implementation and adoption,” he told State House correspondents.