Yiaga Africa Assesses Tinubu’s Digital Economy: Two Years of Policy and Performance

Two years into President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, Nigeria’s digital economy ambitions are clear on paper, but the reality is more complicated. Despite a wave of ambitious programmes, the gap between policy vision and execution remains wide, according to an assessment by Yiaga Africa.

The Vision: A Technology-Driven Government

At the heart of the administration’s strategy is the idea of a government that delivers services digitally from the start, where data drives decisions, and citizens can interact with public institutions as easily as they use their phones. The Digital Government Policy Framework (DGPF), launched in 2020, outlines this vision across six pillars, including initiatives like Digital by Design and Proactive Governance.

However, ambition alone does not build systems. In theory, Digital by Design means government services are created with technology at their core. In practice, progress has been slowed by fragmented regulations and uneven capacity across states. Some parts of the country are moving forward while others play catch-up, resulting in a fragmented system rather than the unified digital experience these innovations are meant to achieve.

Data Governance: Signs of Progress, Gaps Remain

The push for a data-driven public sector shows a similar pattern. There are signs that the Nigerian government is beginning to take data governance more seriously. For instance, the Build-A-thon programme reached all 36 states, setting up learning communities focused on youths and female groups as part of efforts to achieve a geo-political system of equity and inclusion.

But what is missing is consistent, disaggregated data that reflects differences across factors like gender, geography, and income levels. Without this level of detail, policies risk missing the people who need them most, and data cannot be effectively used to create inclusive solutions.

Infrastructure and Connectivity: A Digital Backbone with Blind Spots

Government as a Platform envisions an interconnected, efficient, and accessible public service. Infrastructure investments, such as the installation of 145,000km of fibre optic cable, suggest the foundation is being built. Yet only 27% of rural Local Government Areas (LGAs) are connected against a target of 60%, making the experience of navigating them still feel disjointed. The promise of seamless digital governance has yet to materialise.

On a brighter note, Nigeria appears to have made real progress in building its digital backbone with broadband infrastructure expansion and continued growth in the telecommunications ecosystem. However, only about 27 percent of local governments have reliable connectivity compared to their urban counterparts. For millions of Nigerians, the digital economy still feels out of reach—a divide with real consequences.

Transparency and Citizen Engagement: Openness Without Accountability

Perhaps more telling is the lingering gap between openness and transparency. While the government has made efforts to engage citizens through consultations, signalling a willingness to be more transparent, limited visibility into programme performance makes it difficult to assess how policies are actually working.

This disconnect becomes even clearer in user-driven governance. In principle, citizens should help shape the services they use; in practice, feedback channels are often weak or inaccessible, particularly for rural areas or underserved communities.

Coordination: The Structural Challenge

Beyond infrastructure, a deeper structural challenge is coordination. Nigeria has a deep-seated challenge of aligning efforts across different agencies working toward similar goals. Policies are developed and launched in isolation, creating a system that moves while being pulled in different directions.

The startup ecosystem, for example, boasts over 12,000 registered startups and billions in investment, but still lacks stronger institutional support, which means this growth may be difficult to sustain.

Yiaga Africa’s assessment report on President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda describes the legal and regulatory framework as transitional, with important tools like the National AI Strategy and the Digital Economy Bill still in development and facing delays in enforcement. The Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy (FMoCIDE) has demonstrated leadership, but execution is uneven as a result of poor interagency cooperation and limited connections in local governments.

The Startup Ecosystem and Human Capital: Emerging but Not Institutionalised

According to the policy assessment brief facilitated by Yiaga Africa, more than 12,000 registered firms and ₦21 billion in investments were raised in 2025. The startup ecosystem is referred to as emerging but not institutionalised and is threatened by issues including poor budgetary integration and sluggish tax incentive disbursement.

Similarly, the national Build-A-Thon STEM effort emphasises the importance of human capital development; nonetheless, inclusion mechanisms remain inadequate, particularly for rural areas, gender-specific data, and disability inclusion. Only 7.7% of young people with training are employed in northern states due to a lack of investments in digital infrastructure.

The Path Forward

The way forward requires improving rural connectivity through reforms like reducing right-of-way costs and investing in alternative power solutions. Policies like the Digital Economy Bill must move from draft to implementation, and coordination across different local governments must become more deliberate and unified.

Ultimately, progress must be measured not just by policies announced, but by outcomes experienced by everyday Nigerians.