Nigeria hopes for $10B revenue in blockchain by 2030

The country could potentially create a revenue stream worth $6 to $10 billion from the industry

Kashifu Inuwa, the director-general for Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has expressed his hopes for the country to use blockchain technology to generate a revenue stream worth $6 to $10 billion in the next ten years.

Director-General Inuwa announced this at a stakeholders meeting in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, to review the agency’s National Blockchain Adoption Strategy Framework. A draft of the strategy was first released to the public last October, and the document explained how blockchain and decentralised ledger technology (DLT) would help facilitate the development of the country’s digital economy.

“We want Nigeria to be strategically placed to capture value from this economic potential of blockchain. Looking at our youthful population, which is mainly digitally native and with our position in Africa, we are looking at how we can get at least around six to ten billion dollars by the year 2030”, Inuwa explained.

The director-general also cited a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers in October that discovered how blockchain technology, through its various use cases, had the potential to add $1.76 trillion to the global gross domestic product within the next ten years, which would make the industry comprise 1.4 per cent of the global GDP in 2030. Inuwa pointed out that Nigeria could look into implementing the technology in its payment services, provincial services, digital identity, customer engagement, and contract and dispute resolution applications.

“Blockchain is going to play a key role in terms of creating, tracing products and services. We see the need for us to position our country well so we can capture value from the blockchain”, Inuwa said.

The country of Nigeria has worked towards positioning itself at the lead of cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption in Africa. In May, the crypto research company Arcane Research found that Nigeria had the second-highest percentage of crypto ownership or usage amongst all internet users in Africa, at 11 percent. In September, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) formally defined digital assets under its regulatory umbrella.

The country has also been in the spotlight after crypto donations were used by a group of Nigerian feminists in funding protests against the police’s Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS). Since early October, thousands of Nigerians have been protesting against police brutality in the country, demanding that the SARS be disbanded.

Africa has been called as “the next frontier for cryptocurrency” because the region’s conditions are incredibly conducive for the industry.