Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has declared Nigeria’s commitment to a regional digital future for West Africa. Tijani stated this at the opening ceremony of the 17th edition of West African Internet Governance Forum (WIGF 2025), holding in Abuja.
With the theme, “Building a Resilient, Inclusive, and Safe Digital Future for West Africa,” the event was hosted by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)
According to Tijani, in an era where digital technologies are transforming every facet of life, resilience, inclusivity, and safety are no longer optional, they are essential.
He stated, “As the host country, Nigeria is deeply committed to supporting a robust and equitable digital landscape across West Africa, through initiatives like our Broadband Infrastructure projects, Championing Subsea Cable Resilience, Promoting Data Protection and Privacy – Accelerating Digital Literacy across the nation – Developing our National Artificial Intelligence Strategy.”
Tijani added, “We are working to deepen democratise access to the internet, protect users’ rights, and enable innovation that uplifts our economies and empowers our people.
“We also recognise that these goals cannot be achieved in isolation. They require collaboration between governments, civil society, the private sector, technical communities, academia, and, most importantly, the youth who are the largest drivers of our digital economies.”
The minister urged participants to leave the forum with “commitments to build infrastructure that reach the underserved, promote digital literacy and digital rights at individual level, create inclusive digital policies, to secure our cyberspace, and to foster innovation that reflects our values and aspirations as a region”.
Chairperson, West Africa Internet Governance Forum, Mary Uduma, explained, “Today, if you want to pay for any purchase we make within Africa, it might be difficult to use our ordinary credit card.
“We want integration, inclusivity, safe internet, affordable, reasonable and available internet for all. We want our children to be safe online, because safety is everybody’s call. So we want people to be responsible and want people to use the internet responsibly. “
Director General, NITDA, Kachifu Abdullahi, in his welcome address, stated that the forum was a clarion call for West Africa “to come together in pursuit of a secure, equitable and forward focused digital ecosystem.”
West African Youth Coordinator for Internet Governance Forum, Osei Keja, said the whole function of the West African Governance Forum was to amplify the concerns and leverage on them to dialogue to push for inclusive policies.
Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole
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