Experts at the National Digital Policy dialogue, convened by Centre for Information and Technology CITAD, made key recommendations for Nigeria to overtake South Africa and Kenya in the upcoming Network Readiness Index.
Nigeria was ranked 103 out of 127 economies evaluated in 2025, making it 10th in Africa behind Mariutus which emered first in Africa.
Network Readiness Index is a benchmark to assess how countries leverage Information and Technology to drive economic growth,social progress and environmental sustainability.
Countries are assessed on four core pillars: People, Governance, Technology and Impact.
Engineer Nasiru Aliyu Shinkafi,a Certified IT professional from Galaxy Backbone , said moving into African top 3-5 and to potentially overtake South Africa and Kenya, Nigeria must scale up its 3 million Technical Talent (3 MTT) programme aggressively with measurable outcomes in digital literacy.
Shinkafi said Mauritius consistently leads Africa by wide margin, thereby outperforming expectations from its income levels followed in the next spots by South Africa and Kenya
He said though globally Nigeria ranked 103 out of 127 countries, its strength in NRI ratings revolves around its population and GDP per capita .
” On the technology pillar, Nigeria must accelerate broadband infrastructure rollout ,expand subscription and leverage domestic market.The country must also fully implement AI strategy and regulatory quality and trust in cyber security and data protection as well as strengthen digital inclusion policies and close rural gaps,”he said.
In the short term,Dr Shinkafi said, Nigeria must aim to improve its overall score by 5-8 points to climb 10-20 positions.
He further said Nigeria must boost its ICT services to drive measurable economic impacts.
In her presentation,Dr Hadiza Ali Umar from Bayero University Kano said Nigeria’s weakest area in the rating is the significant gap in digital literacy and skills development among the people.
She identified key strengths areas to build upon to include expanding Telecom infrastructure,Fintech innovation leadership and Young Tech-savvy population.
While highlighting strategic opportunities for acceleration which include investment in digital education, expansion of broadband access, the academic said limited digital skills, persistent digital divide and Internet access constraints- viewed as the biggest Challenges-must be addressed.
The CITAD Digital policy dialogue examines Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda and makes key recommendations to achieve long term impact and build an equitable digital future.
