Nigeria is taking steps to address the shortage of credible, locally generated data on its technology sector with the launch of the Nigeria Tech Outlook Report and Dashboard by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
Launching the report on the sidelines of the Digital Nigeria International Conference and Exhibition (DNICE), NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa, said the initiative is designed to provide reliable information on the country’s digital economy, helping policymakers, investors and technology businesses identify market opportunities, assess gaps and make informed decisions.
According to him, Nigeria had relied heavily on data from the World Bank and other international institutions, creating the need for a credible national data source to support technology planning, regulation and investment.
He said NITDA had been collaborating with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to develop a more comprehensive picture of the country’s technology landscape, adding that reliable data was essential to creating an enabling environment for innovation and investment.
“Conventional measurements of the digital economy, which largely focus on the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector’s contribution to GDP, fail to capture the growing influence of technology across industries such as financial services, healthcare and media,” he said.
He stressed that a broader measurement framework was necessary to understand technology’s contribution to economic activities and identify areas where digital innovation could address existing market gaps.
Highlighting findings from the report, Inuwa identified healthcare, financial services and digital devices as sectors with significant investment opportunities, disclosing that although more than 80 per cent of Nigerians had used telemedicine at some point, fewer than 20 per cent had actually accessed the service, pointing to a substantial gap between demand and availability.
In financial services, the report indicated that while more than 80 per cent of Nigerian adults had bank accounts, fewer than 20 per cent had accessed digital credit.
Inuwa believes that digital technology could help address the trust and information barriers preventing small businesses from accessing financing by providing digital records and transaction histories.
He noted that the report would give investors clearer insights into market potential, unmet demand and underserved segments, reducing the cost of preliminary market research and helping businesses assess risks before committing capital.
The DG announced that the Nigeria Tech Outlook Report would become an annual publication, with the second edition expected by June 1, 2027.
Also speaking, the Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, described the report as an important intervention in addressing Nigeria’s longstanding technology data gap.
He said it provides a consolidated source of evidence on how individuals and institutions across the country access and use technology, establishing a foundation for measuring the country’s digital development.
Adeniran disclosed that the NBS collaborated with NITDA on a nationwide telephone survey using Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI), covering 2,147 households and 539 primary healthcare facilities across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He said the exercise demonstrated the potential of digital tools to modernise official data collection, reaffirming the NBS’s commitment to working with NITDA to produce reliable statistics for national planning and development.
The launch marks an effort to strengthen Nigeria’s technology intelligence infrastructure, providing policymakers and investors with locally generated evidence to guide decisions, identify opportunities and measure progress in the country’s digital economy.