ITU Ranks Nigeria Highly in Digital Transformation Readiness

A new report from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has ranked Nigeria highly at 71%, highlighting its comparative legal, policy, and governance frameworks towards an advanced state of digital transformation readiness, termed G5. Germany, Finland, and Singapore lead the global chart.

The report, conducted by the ITU and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), was unveiled by Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, in Abuja on Monday. Nigeria was ranked among Africa’s top seven BEMECS 5G Readiness Index, indicating the country’s readiness to deploy and adopt mass-market 5G networks.

Titled ‘Collaborative Regulation: Accelerating Nigeria’s Digital Transformation’ and presented at the Digital Economy Complex, Mbora, Abuja by ITU’s Kagwira Nkonge, the report includes a case study on ‘collaborative regulation review’ to support Nigeria’s transition towards collaborative digital governance, evidence-based policymaking, and agile regulation in the digital economy.

The report was presented to a cross-section of key industry stakeholders, including service providers, government agencies, representatives of multilateral institutions, the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA), and the Africa Telecommunications Union (ATU). It is designed to complement existing cross-country benchmarks assessing countries’ policy and regulatory environments according to the Generations of Regulation frameworks, which track telecom regulatory maturity towards digital transformation readiness. Nigeria is currently at G4, on track towards G5 Advanced State of Readiness.

Advanced State of Readiness is benchmarked against four critical levels of accomplishment: national collaborative governance, policy design principles, digital development toolbox, and digital economic policy agenda. Nigeria scored 91% in regulatory capacity, 82% in market rules, 81% in collaborative governance, 76% in legal instruments for ICT/telecom markets, and 69% in national digital agenda policy, among other benchmarks.

Dr. Tijani, in his remarks at the event, commended the ITU and partner agencies for the report and expressed the Federal Government’s commitment to using it as a navigational aid to achieve regulatory objectives and policies for a robust digital economy.

“That is what we will continue to do as a government, ensuring that we can put ourselves in a place to have cutting-edge modern regulations in place to ensure that business is done properly in our sector and to ensure that, where possible, increase the local content of the sector as well,” he said.

Tijani noted that the NCC had adapted over the years in response to the changing role and mandate of the sector. He explained, “Fifteen, twenty years ago, NCC was just regulating the telecommunications sector. Today, NCC regulates the foundation for which any economy would be prosperous.”

The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Aminu Maida, who hosted the presentation, welcomed the indicators promoting effective regulation, greater investment attraction, and development of innovative models for broader digital inclusion. He emphasized that collaborative regulation would support Nigeria’s transition towards effective digital governance, evidence-based policymaking, and agile regulation in the nation’s digital economy.