Nigeria’s federal government has approved a national blockchain policy for part of its efforts to digitize and expand the country’s economy, the largest in Africa.

Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, on May 3 announced the policy was endorsed in the capital Abuja following the Federal Executive Council’s meeting. Pantami said: “With the approval of the national blockchain policy for Nigeria, we can safely say that blockchain technology with all its components and types has been institutionalized in the country.”

The move underscores blockchain’s potential benefit that could help Africa’s most populous country faster build its financial and social infrastructures, and achieve an exponential economic growth.

Nigeria has the highest number of blockchain startups in Africa, and was the first country to launch a Central Bank Digital Currency – the eNaira. With this new policy, the country has the opportunity to deploy the technology in scale and help end challenges such as election rigging allegations, counterfeit education certificates, land and property scams, broken health systems, while restoring trust in financial dealings.

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-Edited by Shigeru Sato, Faustine Ngila