Blockchain technology: Strides, drawbacks in implementation

Benjamin Babine, Abuja

As a result of the disclosure by the director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Abdullahi, that Nigeria targets between $6 billion to $10 billion by 2030 from Blockchain technology industry, Daily Sun decided to test Nigerian’s acceptance and interest in the industry.

First, a Blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash (a string of numbers and letters) of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. Popular names used in referring to blockchain include “cryptocurrency”, “bitcoin”, etc.

At the Stakeholder Engagement for the Review of the National Blockchain Adoption Strategy, the NITDA boss said that the government wants to harness the potential in Blockchain, and has seen the need to position the country to capture value from it.

He said: “Looking at our youthful population, which is mainly digitally native and our strategic position in Africa, we are looking at how we can get at least around $10 billion from this by the year 2030, and this is doable looking at our strategic and huge payment and financial services sector.

“Nigeria is already one of the hottest places when it comes to tapping from this. We are coming up with a strategy that will help Nigeria to capture value from the financial services from land administration, from education, and from healthcare because Blockchain is going to play a key role in terms of breaking and tracing products and services.”

Though the Blockchain industry in Nigeria is fast rising, the continual belief by many that it is similar to Ponzi schemes stands as a huge obstacle to the industry.

A Forex trader, Mr. Famous Jegede, said: “Cryptocurrency is digital money. It enables people to keep their money online. An example is Bitcoin and it has a very huge value. Money can be saved and transactions can be made with it. The rates could also increase, depending on what you do. So, it can be a good platform to save money.

“Basically, Nigerians are scared of anything digital investment because of the perils of MMM and other Ponzi schemes people have suffered. So, most people are now very cautious with where they put their money. If it’s not the bank, they don’t want to do it, but it ought not to be so. People ought to be enlightened on the blockchain industry.”