Kwara State Government on Wednesday hailed the Federal Government’s National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill, insaying its passage will smoothen government activities and boost government-citizen engagement.
“The Kwara State Government is proud to support technologically-driven initiatives, especially with the National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill. It will help in smoothening government activities and relations, administration and citizens engagement,” Commissioner for Communications Bola Olukoju said at the National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill stakeholders’ engagement held in Ilorin, Kwara State capital.
“Nigeria is moving into real digital economy and the Kwara State Government is always proud to support anything that promotes digital economy bearing in mind that we have Ilorin Innovation Hub which should be ready before the end of the year. It will change the state’s tech ecosystem. It will have a lot of startups.”
Olukoju noted that administration is embracing digital economy to save resources and support youth who are particularly technologically inclined, saying the state has a youth population ready to tap into the tech ecosystem.
“From the presentations, the National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill will support a lot of entrepreneurs, especially the youth. I hope the bill we scale through in the National Assembly,” Olukoju said.
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For her part, the Special Assistant to the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Banke Ajaguna, said the stakeholders’ engagement is organised to bring together senior government officials, members of the state assemblies, tech ecosystem players and civil society organisations in order to access the draft bill and secure the buy-in of players in the digital economy.
“What we are doing with this stakeholders’ engagement is to truly shape a policy that is of the people, by the people, and for the people within the digital economy. This engagement is to get the buy-in of the stakeholders, ask the right questions, and for the Bill to answer the right questions when it becomes a law and works for the people within the sector,” Ajaguna said.
“We want an economy that thrives, and to achieve that, we want everybody’s voice to be heard. We want the bill to truly represent the people who will be most impacted by the bill.”
The session was attended by top tech players in the state, including Managing Director Ilorin Innovation Hub Temi Kolawole and his board members.
Presenting an overview of the National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill, 2024, a legal Consultant AbdulRasheed Badmus, said the bill aims to position Nigeria as a digital economy leader in Africa by fostering a secure and inclusive digital environment that streamlines and allows for transparent digital governance and citizen engagement.
Key goals of the Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill, according to him, include economic transformation; modernised citizen-centric public services, and digital access for all
Badmus called on all stakeholders to collaborate to meet shared goals.
A product engineer and Creative Lead at ProPlay Digital, Mustapha AbdulRazaq, explained that the proposed law will ensure digital privacy and protect data in the online space against being used by a third party.
“National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill is very important. Every top country of the world has implemented that. This will give room for digital inclusivity. It will make everyone to be digitally inclined through online transactions. Nigerians today can sit at the comfort of their homes and buy things online instead of physical as it used to be,” he said.
