Digitalising MSMEs can increase Nigeria’s GDP by $53bn, says NITDA

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) says that digitalisation of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) could increase Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) by $53 billion. 

Kashifu Abdullahi, director-general, NITDA, spoke on Thursday at the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) digital transformation centre in Lagos.

Quoting recent research, he said any MSME that transformed digitally could increase its revenue by 26 percent and reduce cost by 22 percent.

Abdullahi added that the digital transformation of MSMEs would help grow the nation’s economy.

“Statistical research in 2018 showed that digitally transformed enterprises contributed $13.5 trillion to the global GDP, and it is projected that in 2023, it will reach $53.3 trillion, which is more than 50 percent of the global GDP,” he said. 

“Therefore, if we in Nigeria can digitally transform our MSMEs, it could add 26 percent to GDP or to the revenue of the MSMEs.

“Today, MSMEs contribute 43 per cent to Nigeria’s GDP which is about $205 billion. Twenty-six per cent of this means digitisation of our MSMEs can increase our GDP by $53 billion.” 

The NITDA boss said the federal government is committed to digitally transforming the economy through a seven-point strategic roadmap and action plan.

He said NITDA has many regulations to protect the market, enable innovation, and improve service delivery.

“NITDA wants to achieve 90 percent digital literacy by 2030. We want every Nigerian to be able to use digital devices to access digital services,” he said. 

“Every country needs to field in-country skills and build its digital offering, so NITDA started the initiative of training one million developers in 2022.

“So far, we have trained 219,000 Nigerians on different aspects of technology.

“On digital literacy, NITDA has trained more than three million Nigerians through various channels.”

The director-general said the DTC Nigeria was an initiative funded by the German government and the European Union, but implemented by GIZ with NITDA as the implementing partner.