According to Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, the present annual spending on e-commerce in Nigeria is anticipated to be over $13 billion, with an expected increase to $75 billion by 2025.
This was said by Adebayo over the weekend in Abuja at a stakeholder discussion on Nigeria's e-commerce and digital trade policy.
According to the market projection for Nigeria's e-commerce, which was at 76.7 million in 2021, there will be 122.5 million online buyers in the nation by 2025.
“The figures from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), also shows that Nigeria’s e-payment transactions increased by 85.5 per cent year-on-year to ₦171.99 trillion in August 2021,” he further stated.
Therefore, he claimed that Nigeria is now striving to develop an e-commerce strategy that will accelerate the sector's growth.
In order to set the economy on a path of sustainable growth, the minister said that there is no better moment than now to diversify our economy away from the oil sector by creating a vibrant, lucrative, and effective non-oil sector.
The minister, who was represented by the director of the ministry's commodities and export department, Mr. Suleman Audu, stated that Nigeria is actively taking part in the ongoing WTO negotiations in order to promote e-commerce.
He said: “Nigeria is yet to fully harness the inherent opportunities in the e-commerce value chain, largely due to inadequate investment, coupled with inadequate information on the opportunities in the sector and the inability of Government to provide the required enabling environment.
“As such, government has identified e-commerce as a major priority programme that will play a critical role in the promotion of commodity trade, especially with the realities of the unprecedented COVID-19 global pandemic.
“The Federal Government is also committed to developing an e-commerce strategy in line with the Federal Government’s Post COVID-19 recovery plan, to encourage investment in e-commerce value chain,” he said.
He continued by saying that the Ministry is enthusiastic about the expanding investment opportunities in the value chain of e-commerce, which have the potential to considerably increase the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He recently claimed that the industry increased from 14% in 2019 to 17% in 2020.
Adebayo added that the National Advisory Committee on Electronic Commerce and Digital Economy (NACEDE) platform will be used by the Federal Government to synchronise and coordinate e-commerce activities while also strengthening collaboration with State Governments and creating synergy among pertinent Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
He stated that in order to build an e-commerce and digital trade policy in Nigeria that will encourage cross-border trade, the stakeholders are expected to strategize and develop appropriate recommendations and next steps.