Nigeria is at the forefront of blockchain uptake. After rolling out their national blockchain policy in May 2023, they’ve since been ranked in the top 10 globally for crypto adoption, and a number of States are signing up to secure their educational data with blockchain storage. This short post looks at Nigeria’s adoption of blockchain technology, and particularly the benefits of doing so.

In his Presidential Mandate as part of the policy, Muhammadu Buhari states the benefits of adopting blockchain technology:

“The implementation of the Policy will contribute to strengthening Nigeria’s digital economy by expanding financial inclusion and enhancing openness and accountability. It will also enhance public trust in governance and promote citizen engagement by increasing transparency and accountability.”

It is crucial for both governments and organizations to prove they can be trusted with user data in 2023 because of both the increasing threats to data security, and the decreasing trust the public have in the truth and accuracy of the data presented to them. 

Regarding data security, this is a world-wide problem with all industries and governments at risk from the increasing threat of ransomware and other cyberattacks. For example, over three-quarters of UK schools have reportedly experienced at least one type of cyber-incident, while as many as one in three Americans have their data breached each year. By using a Web3 data platform that combines blockchain storage with fully homomorphic encryption, the threat of ransomware and other attacks is eliminated because the data is both immutable, and never decrypted – even while being analyzed. 

Meanwhile, the issue of data accuracy and transparency is seen as a particular issue for countries like Nigeria who have to date lacked the widespread infrastructure necessary to easily ensure data is managed effectively. The immutability of data stored in a blockchain is key to fixing this issue because it means that once a file is uploaded, it can never be edited with its upload and access history also impossible to change. This means that once something is uploaded to the blockchain, for example an educational qualification, it can be trusted because it cannot be edited and it can be easily traced back to the creditor for verification. 

It is such a Web3 Data Platform that is being adopted by a number of states in Nigeria to store the educational data of all students and teachers thanks to a deal struck with Web3 Data Platform company OmniIndex, and Educational data management company Future-X.

On the deal, OmniIndex CEO Simon Bain said it is “time for everyone to stop talking about the future potential of blockchain technologies, and to actually use blockchain and other related web3 innovations to start making a real difference.”

It is this determination to make a real difference to strengthen their digital economy and enhance openness and accountability that has seen Nigeria invest in blockchain technology and to adopt it widely across different sectors.