The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) says Nigeria plans to generate over six billion dollars through blockchain technology by 2030.

This was disclosed by the NITDA Director-General, Mr Kashifu Inuwa, at a stakeholders’ engagement for the review of the National Blockchain Adoption Strategy Framework in Abuja on Thursday.

Inuwa said that the blockchain was among emerging technologies that had contributed to the growth of economies globally, saying that Nigeria will not be left out.

“We see the need for us to position our country well so we can capture value from blockchain.

“There is a recent publication by PricewaterhouseCoppers(PwC), an international institution that indicated that in the next 10 years, blockchain is going to contribute 1.76 trilliin dollars to the global Gross Domestic Development by 2030.

 “We want Nigeria to be strategically placed to capture value from this economic potential of blockchain.

 “Based on the PwC analysis, China is going to get the highest net worth potential from blockchain technology,because it is projected that by 2030, China will capture over 460 billion dollars.

 “In Nigeria, looking at our youthful population,which is mainly digitally native and with our position in Africa, we are looking at how we can get at least around six to 10 billion dollars by the year 2030,” he said.

According to Inuwa, the target was achievable because Nigeria’s payment and financial services were huge, while the country had been located as a hotspot for FinTech in Africa.

 He added that blockchain technology could be achieved through provincial services, payment services, digital identity, customer engagement, contract and dispute resolution applications, among other strategies.

 The director-general said that it was important for Nigeria to discover its competences and adopt the application that could generate income.

He added that the blockchain technology interfaced with the eight pillars of the National Digital Economy Strategy and Policy towards building a digital economy.

Inuwa called on stakeholders to fashion out flexible and implementable strategies for immediate execution that government can leverage on for job creation.