Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, has urged global leaders to embrace Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as a foundation for rebuilding public trust and delivering inclusive services at scale.
He said this during a keynote address at the United Nations Open Source Week 2025 in New York, to celebrate Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Day. He explained how open and citizen-centric systems can redefine the relationship between governments and their people.
“Thoughtfully designed and deployed technology offers a unique opportunity for nations to rebuild that trust—by allowing the state to be present in the everyday journeys of its citizens,” the Minister said. “Not as an intruder, not as a bystander, but as a quiet, intelligent, and enabling force which is responsive, respectful, and reliable.”
Tijani positioned DPI as more than a digital evolution, but he described it as the modern-day equivalent of social infrastructure, which is one that should be built on the principles of openness, privacy, interoperability, and local innovation.
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DPI is not just an evolution of e-government; it is a new form of social infrastructure, one that offers a modular, open, and interoperable foundation for innovation to thrive and public services to scale, according to him.
Citing Nigeria’s ongoing efforts, he highlighted the country’s progress in deploying a digital identity system and its globally recognised fintech ecosystem, made possible through open banking regulations and inclusive policy reforms.
Tijani underscored the government’s commitment to building a robust DPI framework that empowers startups, civic tech players, and grassroots innovators in alignment with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
“Invest in foundational digital infrastructure, and collaborate across sectors to realise the full promise of DPI. Let us not just build DPI systems, let us build a new compact of trust with technology as the bridge and leadership as the compass,” he stated.
