BSV Stories Episode 10: The future has already arrived in Nigeria

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There are over 230 million people living in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, with 60% of its population made up of young people. The youth in Nigeria are notoriously hungry for education and opportunities, creating the perfect environment for digital technologies such as blockchain to thrive.

While in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, I set forth to uncover the plans for BSV blockchain
education in the region and discover the role it will play in Nigeria’s digital revolution.

My first stop was Digital Nigeria, an annual conference dedicated to job creation and economic growth by utilizing digital technology. One of the event’s main partners is Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), which provided me with an opportunity to speak with NITDA Director General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE and Director Dr. Usman Abdullahi.

“We’re in a digital age. Everything is technology. People need to come and immerse themselves into the technology to have the experience of the latest technology and also trigger conversations on how to harness the power of these digital technologies,” said Abdullahi.

“Nigeria in particular and Africa in general is a continent of youthful population. What we try to see is to find ways of engaging the youth productivity, and Nigerian youth, in particular, are highly talented,” added Abdullahi.

“We feel that the emerging technologies in general, blockchain in particular, is an area that would be of much more interest. It would be something attractive as you can think of to the youth,” he said. 

Working closely with NITDA, the BSV Academy has put together a program to train 500,000 Nigerians on blockchain technology with utility. 

“We believe in Nigerians because they fundamentally have the power to create the future here,” said Evan Freeman, Director of Education for BSV Blockchain Association.

Freeman revealed the high level of interest the Nigerian government and NITDA have in the BSV blockchain, particularly due to its scalability and ability to do micropayments.

“Knowledge is the cornerstone for everything. That’s why we are starting with the training, and we really appreciate BSV Academy for this support,” said Abdullahi.

“People [who] are empowered with knowledge will come up with so many innovative ideas. In Nigeria and Africa in general, we can easily use these emerging technologies to leapfrog. And by leapfrogging, we can really create social and economic impact,” he said.

“I think we are already creating the future…I think the future is already here and is arriving faster than we expected it,” Abdullahi added.

NITDA was first introduced to the BSV Academy concept in 2022 at the Global Blockchain Convention (GBC) in Dubai, thanks to the Founders of Domineum. Abdullahi was quick to identify the opportunity and started working with the Academy to provide Nigerian youths not only with new skills but also with business development to follow those skills. 

“You’re looking at a country with a fairly young, tech-savvy population who speak English and who are hungry. They want to build the future. They have a lot of issues and challenges within their society, in their nation, that are ripe for them to solve using BSV blockchain technology,” pointed out Freeman.

The BSV Academy program’s first cohort produced 12,000 graduates ranging from university students to members of agencies within the Nigerian government. The Academy plans for 30,000 students to participate in cohort two.

Freeman explained how the content is delivered to students through a BSV-based “earn and learn” platform, meaning they are rewarded with BSV via Centbee for correctly answering assessments. 

“We’re not just educating individuals, but we’re also creating more users for the BSV ecosystem,” explained Freeman. 

“By creating more users, we can actually allow the ecosystem to grow not just from an individual perspective but also from a business perspective. So we’re seeding the fields, so to speak,” he added.

Nigeria-based Yusuf Idi Maina, a BSV academy graduate and NITDA mentor, traveled to Abuja from his home state to attend Digital Nigeria. Maina first learned about blockchain in 2022 and, through the academy course, discovered sCrypt, a tool that simplifies developing on BSV blockchain.

Maina talked about the simplicity of sCrypt and its ability to onboard web2 developers to web3 without any issues. Using tools such as sCrypt, Maina and the students have built a decentralized voting system and social media app that incentivizes users with ordinal non-fungible tokens (NFTs), all thanks to the unique capabilities of BSV.

“BSV blockchain is different. When you dive deeper into the world of blockchains, you will find out that BSV blockchain is the blockchain of the future due to some certain features—the transaction fees, the scalability and speed, the scalability and security,” Maina revealed. 

Highlighting the difference between BSV blockchain’s utility and “crypto hype” is a passion of Maina’s; he even refers to BSV as the “future of the internet.”

“Blockchain is much more than [cryptocurrencies] and you can build amazing products onto one blockchain which will have values of millions of dollars, so we are showing [the students] how to utilise blockchain and build real products beyond cryptocurrencies,” he said. 

The president of Nigeria’s Blockchain Association, Obinna Iwuno, also attended Digital Nigeria. He spoke of his interactions with Freeman and his interest in working closer with the BSV Academy to help spread the word on the unique capabilities of the BSV blockchain.

“We could have an African BSV community that has that understanding of the solutions that BSV blockchain is providing…I am for growth and advancement,” he emphasized.

While we are just getting started with BSV blockchain education in Nigeria, there has already been a great deal of progress. Partnerships with NITDA, Domineum, and entities such as the Nigeria Blockchain Association and Digital Nigeria will accelerate the reach of the BSV Academy’s program, the engine of Nigeria’s digital revolution.

As Abdullahi said, the future is already arriving in Nigeria, and BSV Academy is ready for the ride.

Watch: Digital Nigeria 2023 highlights Nigeria’s effort to leapfrog into the modern world