By Gabriel Olawale

The Consul General of the Chinese Consulate in Lagos, Mr. Chu Maoming has called for more cooperation between China and Nigeria in the area of digital economy, saying that such will help in addressing the challenges confronting the country.

Speaking in Lagos during the 2022 Africa-China Economic Partnership Agenda Conference, ACEPAC, summit which was organised by the Afri-China Media Centre, publisher of Africa China Economy Magazine, Maoming said that Nigeria is one of the most important economies in Africa and Lagos is the economic, financial and technological center of Nigeria.

He disclosed that China and Nigeria are the largest economies respectively in Asia and Africa, and both countries are actively developing their digital economies with notable success. He noted that the cooperation between the two countries is focused on three main areas; construction of 5G network, mobile payment sector and e-commerce platform design.

He said that the data from Nigerian Communications Commission, the number of mobile internet users in Nigeria has exceeded 150 million as of June 2022, with an internet penetration rate of nearly 70 percent. This speaks to the potential of ICT in promoting national economic development.

On his part, the Director General of Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, Prof Eghosa Osaghae explained the readiness of Nigeria to embrace the possibilities the digital economy presents, at a larger scale.

He noted that the Institute has played a key role in policy formulation for the government and assured that from the enabling laws, Nigeria is ready.

He also itemised the gains of the digital economy sector in the projects and businesses of the institute which has enabled it to handle more manpower development, training and conferences.

Also, the Executive Director of Afri-China Media, Ikenna Emewu described the conference as a landmark that would signal the deepening of the Nigerian digital economy sector.

Emewu said that Nigeria and Africa cannot afford to lag behind in adopting digital possibilities to improve their economies.

He said digitization has taken over the world in all aspects and Nigerian young ICT start-ups have led the digitization way in the continent, it was very imperative to cultivate China’s partnership.

Already China has since deployed the 5G network technology; are into big data, cloud computing, manufacture of hardware, fibreoptic cable laying, artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), so partnership with the country will only yield benefits.

On the theme of the summit, Partnering with China to build Africa’s digital economy five experts presented papers. All, related to the Digital Economy of China and Africa. They are Prof. Zhong Xin, School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University, Beijing; Dr. Efem Ubi, Director of Research, NIIA; Prof. He Wenping, China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS); Prof. Yan Yan, School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University, Beijing and Mr. Misty Uba, Chief Operating Officer of an engineering consulting firm.

Three of the papers by Ubi, Uba, and Yan were purely on the digital economy and its important roles. The first two addressed how the way it is today affects Africa and also how we can bring an improvement.

Zhong did focus on how the media cooperation between China and Nigeria on the framework of the FOCAC has contributed to the deepening of China and Africa’s friendship.

She looked at the cooperation between China and Africa in the post-Covid era and why it needs to be further consolidated in so many more areas than before.

She narrated how the hitherto inaccessible rural places of Chinese have been lifted from hardship and poverty deploying the digital economy possibilities.

Ubi and Uba, the two Nigerian experts, took a look at the extent China has been part of the digital economy in Nigeria and Africa, and how more value could be derived from the partnership.

They also called on Chinese and Nigerian policymakers, investors, business people to work more to synergise efforts at growing the Nigerian end of the digital economy and bridge the digital divide.