Abbas advocates digital-first governance to drive $1trn economy
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, on Monday said Nigeria must abandon outdated practices and embrace a digital-first approach to governance to achieve a trillion-dollar economy and lift
- From Tony Akowe, Abuja
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, on Monday said Nigeria must abandon outdated practices and embrace a digital-first approach to governance to achieve a trillion-dollar economy and lift citizens out of poverty.
Speaking through the House Spokesman, Akintunde Rotimi, the Speaker stressed the need to eliminate longstanding bottlenecks and create a faster, more efficient system of public service delivery.
He noted that a digitally integrated governance framework would have a multiplier effect on the economy by transforming critical areas such as public procurement, tax administration, and social investment programmes.
According to him, such reforms would curb leakages, reduce corruption, and enhance the investment climate.
Abbas said the legislature has played a pivotal role in advancing Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda.
“Through legislation and oversight, we are shaping the future of public service by creating an enabling environment for digital innovation,” he stated.
He highlighted the National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill currently before the National Assembly as a key initiative aimed at establishing a robust framework for a more efficient digital economy.
The Speaker explained that the bill provides legal backing for electronic signatures, contracts, and transactions, while compelling government institutions to adopt transparent and efficient digital processes.
He added that the 10th House of Representatives is focused on building a predictable system where innovation thrives without bureaucratic constraints, alongside ensuring strong data privacy and cybersecurity standards to protect citizens from fraud.
According to him, the ultimate goal is to foster a policy environment where efficiency and accountability drive economic growth and productivity.
He said, “We continue to agree that technology must not widen inequality, must be inclusive, must not exclude, must empower. Our goal must be a digital ecosystem that is inclusive, secure, and beneficial to every Nigerian, regardless of location and status.
“The National Broadband Plan was a deliberate effort to ensure that most parts of this country gain fibre optic penetration so that the dividends of Dovetail reaches into the internet as seamlessly as it reaches the cities.
“This roundtable provides a unique opportunity for collaboration between the government, private sector leaders, and development partners to build frameworks that are practical, scalable, and impactful”.
In his remarks, Deputy Speaker of the House and convener roundtable, Benjamin Kalu said Nigeria was not short on ambition when it comes to digital transformation.
He said, “Over the past decade, we have launched digital identity programmes, deployed payment infrastructure, stood up e-service portals, and invested in data systems.
“We have celebrated many firsts. We have produced policy frameworks, white papers, and strategy documents by the dozen. The theme of this Roundtable: Digital First Governance, is a strategic posture. It demands that we stop treating technology as an afterthought, a modernisation exercise, or a donor-funded pilot project.
“It demands instead that we embed digital thinking into the very architecture of how government is designed, how services are structured, and how citizens are engaged.
“Digital First Governance means that before a new regulation is drafted, we ask: how will this be enforced digitally? Before a new service is designed, we ask: how will this be delivered to a citizen who may have limited connectivity, limited literacy, or a disability? Before a new system is procured, we ask: how will this integrate with what already exists, and who will maintain it when the project timeline ends?
He said that the Roundtable was convened at a moment when Nigeria has before it a historic legislative opportunity: the National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill.
According to him, “If properly crafted and enacted, this legislation can serve as the structural backbone for everything we aspire to do in the digital governance space. It can mandate digital compliance across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.
“It can codify interoperability standards so that systems built by different agencies can share data and work together. It can clarify institutional roles, ending the duplication, turf battles, and accountability gaps that have plagued our digital ecosystem. And critically, it can embed enforcement mechanisms that outlast any single administration.
“The Office of the Deputy Speaker co-convened this Roundtable precisely because we believe that the insights emerging from this room must inform that legislative process. We want to hear from the public servants who understand the operational realities.
“We want to hear from the private sector companies building the tools the government is procuring. We want to hear from the development partners and civil society organisations that have studied what works in comparable contexts around the world.
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“Legislation crafted in isolation from these perspectives risks repeating the mistakes of the past, imposing mandates without the infrastructure to support them, drawing institutional lines without the funding to resource them.
“Let this Roundtable feed the bill. Let this conversation produce the evidence base, the consensus, and the political will that turns legislative intent into lasting change.
He said the roundtable should come up with clear reform roadmap, concrete, prioritised actions with institutional owners and timelines, deepen the consensus around the E-Governance Bill and to carry specific legislative recommendations to the National Assembly floor.
“The measure of Digital First Governance will not be found in the servers we procure, the applications we launch, or the policies
we gazette. It will be found in the experience of the Nigerian citizen, in whether the government is responsive, accessible, trustworthy, and just.
“The National GovTech Policy Roundtable 2026 marks our deliberate step toward that ambition. Let us make it count. I wish us all a productive and consequential day.”
