The Nigerian government has held a preliminary meeting with cryptocurrency platform Binance Holdings Ltd. and Talent City to set up a digital economic zone to assist businesses in facilitating blockchain technology in the country.
The partnership facilitated by the country’s export agency, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), aims to build the first Virtual Free Zone in West Africa, “similar to the Dubai virtual free zone.”
NEPZA’s Managing Director, Adesoji Adesugba, hinted at the partnership talks in Dubai following meetings with officials of the two firms.
Adesugba, who is also Chief Executive Officer of the government organisation, said the partnership, when concluded, would expand economic opportunities for Nigerians.
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The NEPZA boss presented the vision of his management, which centres on expanding frontiers of innovation in the operations and management of free zones in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
“We seek to break new ground to widen economic opportunities for our citizens in line with the mandate of the Authority, the directive of the Honourable Minister and the economic development agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Our goal is to engender a flourishing virtual free zone to take advantage of the near trillion dollar virtual economy in blockchains and the digital economy,” Adesugba said.
Binance was represented at the parley Nadeem Ladki, its Executive Director, Regional Strategic Partnerships, and Sameera Kimatrai, Binance’s Senior Legal Counsel.
Also in attendance were Luqman Edu, Chief Executive of Talent City, and Engr. Sikiru Lawal, NEPZA’s Director of Projects & Procurement.
As Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria is focusing on digital technology as a strategy to help diversify the economy away from crude oil as it takes advantage of the increasingly connected and teeming youth.
The government this year created regulations for trade in digital assets, while Nigeria Exchange Ltd. plans to start a blockchain-enabled platform next year to deepen trade at the bourse.
A study by price tracker CoinGecko indicates that Nigerians have shown more interest in cryptocurrencies than many other countries since the digital assets began to dip in April.
Fintech companies like Flutterwave Inc. and PayCentre have started up and been valued at over a million dollars.