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.