2019 Nigeria Internet Governance Forum

On 11th July 2019, stakeholders from the Nigeria Internet ecosystem convened at Muson Center, Lagos for the annual Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) themed, “Enabling Digital Commonwealth for Development”. The event commenced with opening remarks by the President of Internet Society Nigeria Chapter (ISOC NG), Dewole Ajao and was followed by a welcome address by the NIGF Coordinator, Mrs. Mary Uduma. Mrs. Uduma spoke on the need to have all voices present for leveraging the resources provided by the Internet and ICT in developing our country’s economy. Among the line up of individuals invited to share goodwill messages were representatives from organizations such as the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), West and Central Africa Research and Education Network (WACREN), Paradigm Initiative, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and Nigeria Internet Registry Association (NIRA). In a theme paper presented by the Chairman of the event, Akinwale Akinbade, he explained how digital commonwealth is at the forefront of platform technology and emphasized the need for all stakeholders to think about how we could;

• Manage the collection and use of private data
• Prevent online monopoly
• Make public sector data more available and accessible to citizens
• Promote the integration of online platforms and services and;
• Foster innovation online

Certificates of participation were issued to the participants from the Nigerian School on Internet Governance (NSIG) and appreciation awards were presented to all the school’s sponsors. After a 30 minutes tea break, the event participants were advised to join any of the 6 (six) workshops which were aimed at addressing Internet governance issues faced by the community. The workshops were;

1. Access, Inclusion, and Diversity
2. Internet Economy
3. Cybersecurity & Trust
4. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
5. Critical Internet Resource
6. Emerging Issues

At the end of the breakout sessions, the outcomes and recommendations from each of the workshops were presented to all the event participants by a volunteer representative from the workshops. The event concluded with a wrap-up session by Dewole Ajao. He summarized all the recommendations received from the various workshops and informed participants that a communique will be drafted and shared by the NIGF organizing team.