Economy
ECA calls for policies, infrastructure to promote digital innovations
By Eyewitness reporter
A statement from the ECA, on Sunday, quoted Mr Jean-Paul Adam, Director, Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management at the commission as making the call at a side event to the ongoing 53rd session of the ECA Conference of Ministers.
The event was tagged “Driving Africa’s Industrialisation Agenda by Investing in Youth’s Digital Innovations Post COVID-19″.
In his keynote address, Adam noted that young entrepreneurs could propel Africa’s industrialisation, emphasising that the youths were a critical part of recovery and reset in response to the pandemic.
“We need to reset our development framework for Africa to succeed and digitalisation will play a key role in this,” he stressed.
The director also explained that the reset was about reconsidering sustainable development for Africa and tapping the energy of young people to build forward better.
“Young people are key agents of that reset, the digital space should be one of empowerment and not restriction.” Adam said.
He further said Africa was impacted more than other regions in the context of COVID-19 and climate change, due to its vulnerability, lack of safety nets and minimal fiscal space to adequately respond to such issues.
“We need to respond. We need to address the immediate impact we are facing in terms of lost jobs, in terms of economic opportunities.
”These have been disrupted and we also need to recover from the initial impacts of the crisis of this unprecedented magnitude.” he said.
Adam disclosed that 110 million young people entered the job market in the last 10 years, but only 37 million wage paying jobs were created.
He said the pandemic, however, had presented opportunities for a reset and green recovery for Africa around sustainable energy access for more than 590 million people, without access to electricity.
Furthermore, Adam stressed that digital services were also an opportunity to move Africa’s commerce into the digital space.
He said consideration should be given to specific digital skills which should be invested in and upgrading digital infrastructure like the internet, enhancing digital services, digital identities, and online payment systems.
“We have to ensure access to markets for young people,” he said.
He, however, added that young entrepreneurs must have access to finance and the procurement space.
“E-commerce has emerged as a trade facilitator and the AfCFTA must be leveraged to facilitate trade for young people.
“If we empower young people to enter the digital space and create their own business space, we can expect that every young person will probably create one other job for another person.
“This is the promise that we have for that reset in reviewing the development architecture we believe is necessary for the empowerment of young people and green recovery for Africa.” Adam said.
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Tinubu orders take-off of National Single Window in Q1 2026
Funso OLOJO
The directive was delivered during Tuesday’s fifth steering committee meeting at the State House, Abuja.
President Tinubu was represented by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Gbajabiamila said the recent Tax Reform Acts, signed into law in June, underscored the urgency of accelerating reforms and pursuing Nigeria’s $1 trillion economy target.
He highlighted the importance of financial and trade reforms in achieving national economic transformation.
“It’s important that we continue to stay focused on this project. So that at the end of the day, we meet our timelines and achieve the results the President expects.
“As you all are aware, the project is one of the transformative initiatives of Mr. President which we collectively must ensure is effectively and commendably implemented,” Gbajabiamila said.
He emphasised the role of a unified electronic platform in simplifying Nigeria’s import and export operations.According to him, the NSW will boost investment and trade revenues, improve transparency, and strengthen Nigeria’s global business credibility.
Gbajabiamila urged all agencies to refine their targets and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to meet the Phase 1 deadline.“I do expect that since the last meeting of the steering committee which was held on the 8th April, 2025, all stakeholders have operated and actively progressed with all the required KPIs and set targets to ensure that we go live with phase 1 in Q1 2026 as was previously scheduled,” he said.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun described the progress as encouraging but stressed the need for swift execution.
He urged a shift from strategy to concrete implementation, calling the project complex but transformational.
Edun urged the committee to improve collaboration and resolve final hurdles to meet the rollout timeline.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Jumoke Oduwole also charged the committee to work diligently and meet the Q1 2026 deadline without fail.
Dr. Zacch Adedeji, Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), thanked the President for consistently supporting the project.
“Thank you on behalf of the steering committee. We thank you for the relentless support that you have given to us.”
“And to all my colleagues here, we can see that the reward for hard work is more work.
“When we started last month, it is now law; the single window is now in the law.”
He asked committee members to stay focused on the mission ahead.
The Director of the National Single Window (NSW) Project, Tola Fakolade, gave a brief overview of the steering committee’s progress toward implementing the project.
“All second quarter 2025 key project milestones have been successfully achieved. And the customisation of the Single window platform has commenced,” he said.
He gave assurances that the committee would meet up with the timelines.
The National Single Window project is a Federal Government initiative to streamline trade processes by creating a centralised electronic platform for importers and exporters.
It is a digital trade facilitation platform expected to accelerate economic growth and facilitate cross-border transactions.
Launched in April 2024, the NSW seeks to consolidate all agencies involved in imports and exports onto a unified electronic portal.
It is expected to reduce trade costs, cut delays, and enhance transparency and efficiency at Nigerian ports.
Committee members include representatives from the Ministry of Trade and Investments, the Ministry of Finance, FIRS, and the Nigeria Customs Service.
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