A country of great promise, Nigeria has long danced with potential but stumbled on delivery. Now, the question isn’t whether we need change, it’s how urgently we’ll embrace it. The answer lies in technology.
A nation racing against its demographics
Nigeria’s economy has often been a paradox, rich in resources, yet poor in outcomes. We’re among the continent’s largest economies, yet over 40 percent of our people live in poverty. Inflation is stubborn although it fell to 23.71 percent in April, according to data from NBS.
Infrastructure is crumbling. And every year, millions of young people enter a labour market that has little to offer them.
The oil era once our golden ticket is faltering. Prices swing like a pendulum. Output is unreliable. And global demand is shifting. If Nigeria continues to treat oil as the cornerstone of its growth strategy, we will be left behind. Fortunately, we already have a better engine idling in the background: technology.
But here’s the twist: it’s not about making tech a sector; it’s about making it the system, the nervous system of a modern economy.
The tech dividend is already here
We don’t need a crystal ball. The numbers already speak. In Q2 2023, Nigeria’s ICT sector contributed 8.35 percent to GDP more than oil’s 5.34 percent. This is not theory; it’s happening.
From fintech stars like Paystack and Flutterwave, to logistics startups and edtech platforms, Nigerian tech companies are creating jobs, raising capital, and connecting our economy to the world. This is homegrown, high-impact innovation. It’s also our best shot at economic diversification.
But one thing is clear: this growth won’t scale without deliberate investment in infrastructure, talent, and governance.
Build the rails before the train
Only about 46 percent of Nigerians have access to broadband. That’s like trying to run a marathon on one leg. Broadband is not a luxury; it’s a precondition for everything from e-commerce to virtual learning and mobile banking to remote work.
The National Broadband Plan aims for 70 percent coverage by the end of 2025, but setting a target isn’t the same as reaching it. The private sector must be incentivised. Government must cut red tape. And yes, real money needs to follow because fibre optic cables are not funded by optimism.
Fight corruption with code, not committees
Every year, Nigeria loses about $18 billion to corruption. Paper-based systems in tax offices, customs, and procurement are loopholes, not processes.
Digital tools can close those gaps. Biometric ID systems. Blockchain land registries. E-tax platforms. The Bank Verification Number (BVN) system cleaned up the banking sector. Imagine what could happen if we applied that thinking across the government.
India saved billions by simply making sure people getting subsidies were real people. Nigeria can do the same and even go further.
Turn youth into a strategic asset
Nigeria’s biggest risk is also its biggest opportunity: our youth. With over 70 percent of the population under 30, we either harness this energy or face a demographic time bomb.
The early signs are hopeful. Youth unemployment is trending down 6.5 percent in Q2 2024 from 8.4 percent in Q1. That’s partly thanks to the tech sector. Bootcamps and remote work platforms are turning thousands of young Nigerians into globally employable talent.
The world is short of 85 million tech workers. Nigeria can fill that gap if we treat digital skills as essential infrastructure, just like roads or power.
Fintech is feeding the informal economy
The informal economy makes up nearly 58 percent of Nigeria’s GDP. Yet for decades, it’s operated in the shadows, unbanked, untaxed, and unprotected.
Fintech is changing that. Mobile money, digital ID, blockchain credit scoring, these tools are bringing tailors, traders, and farmers into the formal financial system. That’s not just inclusion. That’s economic expansion.
And it’s already happening. What we need now is scale, stability, and regulatory clarity.
Farming needs tech, not talk
Agriculture still employs over a third of Nigeria’s workforce, but most farms look like they did 40 years ago. Low yields. Weather shocks. Price swings. No real market access.
Elsewhere, tech is solving these problems. Kenya uses mobile apps to link farmers to markets. India uses AI to predict weather and soil conditions. Nigeria has started with platforms like Thrive Agric, but progress remains piecemeal.
We must bring farming into the digital age. Not as a pilot project, but as a national strategy.
Lagos is bursting. Tech can help
Lagos is already overcrowded, and it’s only getting worse. Without smart planning, Nigeria’s urban centres will become pressure cookers.
Smart city solutions like digital traffic systems, real-time data for policing, or waste management powered by IoT can ease the chaos. But we also need something more fundamental: a functional national digital ID.
Without knowing who lives where and does what, policy becomes guesswork. The NIMC needs serious investment, not just in hardware, but in trust and efficiency.
This isn’t optional
Let’s be clear: tech isn’t a shiny distraction. It’s our last real chance at inclusive growth.
It can digitise governance, expand tax bases, modernise agriculture, unlock youth employment, and reduce corruption. But it won’t do this by itself. It needs leadership. It needs coordination. And it needs to be embedded into every strand of our economic fabric.
We’ve tried oil. We’ve tried austerity. We’ve tried empty slogans.
It’s time to try something that works.
Because in the end, the question is simple: will Nigeria be a country of crude oil exports or cloud-based exports? One is fading. The other is just beginning.
The choice, though urgent, is still ours.
Oladosu Ibrahim Adeniyi, Bsc, Data Analyst, Data Engineer, Cloud/Devops Engineer, Cloud Architect, Co-founder CodeSphere Academy.
