Nigeria, as Co-Champion of Digital Trade under AfCFTA is committed to building an, inclusive, and globally competitive digitaleconomy under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, has said.
She stated this on the sidelines of the inaugural AfCFTA Digital Trade Forum, hosted by the AfCFTA Secretariat in Lusaka, Zambia, where the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, with technical support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional AfCFTA Portfolio, unveiled the results of a first of its kind national Digital Trade Survey and Mapping Exercise.
The minister had recently issued a nationwide call for submissions and led active stakeholder engagement to ensure participation in Nigeria’s Digital Trade Survey.
The result is Africa’s first-ever Digital Services Directory—a resource offering detailed insights into Nigeria’s fast-growing digital economy and its potential to scale across the continent.
“I am proud to unveil the findings from Nigeria’s first-of-its-kind digital mapping effort,” Oduwole remarked during the forum. “This snapshot of 17 dynamic sectors provides deep insights into our digital economy and the bold ambitions of its trailblazers. Through this national survey, we have confirmed Nigeria is not just participating in Africa’s digital revolution—we are helping shape it. We had set out to identify Nigeria’s digital service providers, pinpoint priority African markets, inform national policy, and shape Nigeria’s leadership in implementing the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade.”
Some of the key findings, she said is that Nigerian innovation is powered by youth, with 41% of digital entrepreneurs under 35 years old-Over half of all surveyed digital services firms emerged in just the last three years.
It also revealed that while men lead 73% of digital firms overall, women are breaking boundaries in high-impact sectors. Women lead 64% of healthcare digital businesses and 48% of education tech firms.
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