The Federal Government has inaugurated a steering committee for the National Digital Invoicing and Financial Optimization Strategy, with a mandate to turn verified invoices into more affordable working capital for businesses.
Industry, Trade and Investment Minister Jumoke Oduwole said the strategy should go beyond digitizing compliance and instead help exporters, manufacturers, agro-processors and other enterprises unlock cash tied up in receivables.
EnterpriseNGR Chairman Aig-Imoukhuede and Nigeria Revenue Service Executive Chairman Zaach Adedeji co-chair the steering committee.
Oduwole said many small and medium-sized businesses were constrained by slow cash conversion, which weakened production, inventories and supply chains.
She said the strategy should create a national receivables-finance corridor through which verified invoices could be converted into regulated and affordable financing.
The minister said success should be measured by how many verified receivables entered the system, how much financing was unlocked, the number of SMEs and exporters reached, financing costs and repayment performance.
She said the program required four elements to work together: trusted digital infrastructure, legal certainty, financing mechanisms and functioning markets.
Oduwole warned that technology without interoperability would simply create new digital silos.
She called for systems that allowed government, banks, fintech companies, enterprise software, identity systems and collateral registries to connect securely.
The minister also stressed data protection, cybersecurity, fair pricing and transparent governance.
She asked the committee to develop a controlled 90-day pilot around selected exporters, productive value chains and anchor businesses.
Each implementation action, she said, should have a clear owner and deadline.
The government’s objective is to use digital invoicing not only to improve tax and transaction visibility but also to expand liquidity available to productive businesses.
