WE HAVE LAUNCHED EFFORTS TO INTEGRATE BLOCKCHAIN INTO THE NATIONAL ECONOMY - PANTAMI
On Wednesday, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari approved the blockchain policy that will be implemented in Nigeria.
Isah Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, announced this when briefing journalists on the weekly FEC meeting.
He stated that Nigeria's national blockchain strategy would have an impact on all areas of the economy, including the electoral process, through guaranteed data management.
Pantami revealed that the concept includes eight pillars, despite being previously launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 28, 2019.
"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.
Pantanmi cited a Price Waterhouse Coopers PwC study that anticipated blockchain technology could add USD1.76 trillion to the global GDP by 2030 as evidence of how the policy will benefit Nigeria.
According to the minister, African countries were excluded from the first, second, and third industrial revolutions. He stated that we are only in the fourth industrial revolution and are not far from the developed countries, therefore we must 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.
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