As part of efforts towards forging a viable and practical path for implementing the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) Digital Trade Protocol, Nigeria, through the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), has held the maiden digital trade market access roundtable, welcoming regulators from Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa.

Held in Lagos, the regulators provided a country breakdown, offering guidance to Nigerian digital firms on market entry and how to effectively scale across Africa under the AfCFTA.

The Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, stated that Nigeria has demonstrated a firm commitment to the AfCFTA through concrete actions.

Oduwole said: “To ensure the economy’s involvement in prioritising AfCFTA’s implementation, we constituted an AfCFTA Central Coordination Committee in Q1 2025, comprising relevant ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as well as key private sector organisations to drive the process.

“In April this year, we gazetted our schedule of tariff concessions for trade in goods to ensure that made-in-Nigeria goods benefit from preferential rates and eventually, duty-free tariffs. We have also conducted a comprehensive fifth-year review of implementation of the AfCFTA, taking an honest and transparent approach to assess our successes, extract valuable lessons and identify opportunities for improvement.”

She noted that this reflective process has strengthened the resolve and sharpened the strategy, adding that the government will host a national public-private dialogue on AfCFTA implementation, with a focus on key protocols, including digital trade.

“We will clearly articulate the opportunities and conditions of the AfCFTA market to Nigerian businesses. Importantly, we will ensure that the government supports Nigerian businesses to succeed in the AfCFTA market,” she said.

For digital services, the AfCFTA opportunity is particularly compelling as research shows that Africa currently accounts for less than 10 per cent of digitally delivered services exports globally.

Noting that this is about to change, the minister said Nigeria and the rest of Africa possess the talent, demand, innovative experience and now the regulatory framework to dramatically transform digital trade.

At the fourth AfCFTA Ministerial Retreat held in Cairo, Egypt, last month, African ministers of trade focused mainly on digital trade in general and cross-border digital payments under the AfCFTA in particular.

A recurring concern from the retreat and the 17th Meeting of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers was the shared concern of interoperability of digital trade infrastructure across the continent, with emphasis on leveraging the enormous potential that the Digital Trade Protocol holds.

Noting further that Nigeria has been designated as the African Union (AU) co-champion of the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol, the minister said it is an honour and a responsibility.

“To demonstrate our resolve, we commenced regulatory alignment and harmonisation of standards with our regional commitments with a digital economy and e-governance bill currently before the National Assembly. As co-champion, we are committed to demonstrating practical leadership. In the meeting of regulators, we put forward the hard questions and worked through the answers that will birth a robust continental digital market,” she said.

She explained that the integrated African digital market is not merely aspirational, but also an economic imperative.

Currently, only five per cent of Africa’s digitally-delivered services are traded within the continent, representing an untapped opportunity for intra-African digital trade and overarching digital transformation.

To correct this, Oduwole said the ministry undertook an extensive mapping exercise of digital services firms in Nigeria and has now built the first directory of digital services firms, disaggregated by sector.

“Through this process, we identified five priority expansion markets for Nigerian firms: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa. This programme is designed to achieve two critical objectives: a clear understanding of market entry rules and processes in these five countries and gaining direct access to regulators through the clinic sessions. Consultations will allow you to receive guidance on your specific circumstances, review documentation and begin preliminary approval processes,” she said.

Each of the countries presented its regulatory categories, licensing requirements and market entry processes to guide expansion strategies.

Similarly, Oduwole pledged to explore opportunities for the passporting of licenses, saying the goal is to create mechanisms where regulatory approvals in one jurisdiction can facilitate or expedite approvals in others, reducing barriers for firms operating across multiple markets.

She said the goal is to ensure Nigerian firms are at the forefront of the transformation. She, however, warned businesses to ensure they are expanding for the right reasons and to be in the right standing with regulations to enjoy the ministry’s support.

“Compliance at home is a prerequisite for support abroad. Government cannot vouch for your credibility in foreign markets without confidence that you have fully satisfied domestic regulatory requirements,” she said.

Ghana listed fintech, e-commerce, edutech, logistics tech and health tech as areas Nigerian businesses can invest and expand in the country.

Presenting on behalf of Kenya’s state department for trade, Mulama Melvin, noted that the country is establishing a robust digital infrastructure to become a regional hub for digital trade and payments.

On areas Nigerian businesses can tap into, he listed fintech, e-commerce and logistics, digital infrastructure, agri-tech and health-tech.

Wooing over Nigerian investors with the promise of setting up businesses online within six hours, harmonised regulations and a seamless gateway to the East African market, Rwanda said there are opportunities for Nigerian businesses in fintech, e-commerce, health and edu-tech.

Revealing that its exports under AfCFTA has soared to R1.2 billion between February 2024 and May 2025, South Africa said it is in the process of including Nigeria in its list of countries for preferential trade under the AfCFTA in the Customs and Excise Act.

Speaking for Egypt, Ahmed Tarek Fawzy, said the country’s strategic location offers unmatched access to global trade routes, making it an ideal hub for regional and international business and investments as well as its multiple trade agreements and preferential rules of origin.

The roundtable ended with clinic sessions for businesses to interact directly with the different regulators in priority markets with Oduwole promising that the momentum of regulatory cooperation would be sustained while addressing challenges and advancing solutions.