The federal government, through Nigeria’s African Continental Free Trade Area coordination office, has inaugurated a country implementation forum for the Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade initiative, positioning Nigeria at the center of the continent’s digital trade transformation.

Nigeria was selected alongside Kenya and Morocco as one of three pilot countries for the framework, a flagship initiative of the free trade area’s secretariat developed in partnership with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. National Coordinator Patience Okala said the forum reflects Nigeria’s resolve not just to participate in Africa’s digital economy but to help shape its future, noting the country currently serves as co-champion of the continental digital trade protocol, with Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Jumoke Oduwole driving implementation in her role chairing the free trade area’s council of ministers.

Okala said the initiative is designed to integrate Africa’s trade ecosystem into a single interoperable digital infrastructure covering customs, payments, logistics and data exchange, with a Nigerian focus on simplifying trade documentation, enabling trusted digital identities for traders and expanding market access for small businesses, women owned enterprises and youth led ventures. She said the newly inaugurated forum has been tasked with developing an implementation roadmap and identifying regulatory gaps that must be closed, stressing that success will depend on coordination across trade, customs, payments and data protection institutions alongside strong private sector collaboration.