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The Nigerian Senate and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) have thrown their weight behind greater use of digital platforms to strengthen trust in business transactions, formalise the informal economy and create more employment opportunities for young Nigerians.
The endorsement was made in Abuja at the unveiling of Sky ID, a Nigerian telecommunications and business identity platform developed to provide communication, identity and verification services for businesses and individuals.
The platform comes amid growing efforts to use technology to address some of the structural challenges facing Nigeria’s businesses, particularly those operating within the large informal sector.
Senate Promises Legislative Support
Speaking at the launch, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Housing and Urban Development, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, said the National Assembly would continue to support technology-driven initiatives capable of expanding business opportunities and creating jobs.
Tambuwal said the legislature’s responsibility extends beyond lawmaking to creating an environment where innovative businesses can operate and contribute to economic development.
He said the Senate would continue to support legislation that enables initiatives capable of helping Nigerians grow their businesses and creating employment opportunities for young people.
NITDA Targets Informal Businesses
NITDA also highlighted the potential role of digital innovation in bringing more informal businesses into the formal economy.
Dr Ahmed Yusuf Tambuwal, Assistant Director, Digital Development Services Department at NITDA, said the informal sector represents a significant portion of Nigeria’s economic activity and could benefit substantially from digital tools.
According to him, platforms such as Sky ID can help small businesses organise their operations, improve business management and reach more customers.
He noted that digitalisation could allow businesses that remain small in size to develop the capacity to pursue and handle larger commercial opportunities.
NITDA, he added, supports digital businesses through policies, regulations and frameworks designed to make participation in Nigeria’s digital economy easier.
The agency also provides support through partnerships, funding and other forms of engagement with technology businesses.
Sky ID Built Around Trust and Verification
Earlier, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of IT Sky Solutions, Almustapha Liman, explained that Sky ID was developed in response to what he described as a trust deficit in business interactions.
He said businesses and their customers require dependable systems for establishing and verifying identities as communication, commerce and transactions increasingly move into digital environments.
Liman argued that the challenge is not necessarily a lack of trustworthy people but the absence of systems capable of promoting accountability and discouraging abuse.
The identity and verification features of Sky ID are therefore intended to give businesses and customers greater confidence when interacting with one another.
Platform Combines Communication, Identity Services
Sky ID is designed to combine business communication with identity and verification capabilities.
One of its features enables businesses to manage incoming customer calls through a single business number, while its identity-related functions are intended to support verification and accountability in commercial relationships.
The company believes such tools can help businesses establish greater credibility with their customers while addressing some of the trust and security challenges associated with digital interactions.
Liman also stressed that technology should serve a purpose beyond simply connecting people.
In his view, digital platforms should help strengthen the relationship between businesses and their customers by creating systems that promote accountability and confidence.
Company Links Digital Expansion to Employment
Beyond its technology offering, IT Sky Solutions said its operations and partner network are already contributing to employment.
Liman disclosed that the company has created employment opportunities through its operations in India, where about 1,000 people have reportedly been employed.
He added that some members of the company’s channel-partner network have between 400 and 500 employees, suggesting that the wider ecosystem could account for several thousand additional jobs.
The figures underscore the potential employment effects of digital platforms when their operations expand beyond a single technology product into wider distribution and partnership networks.
Ambition Extends Beyond Nigeria
IT Sky Solutions is also looking beyond the Nigerian market.
Liman said the company intends to develop what he described as a “social trust network across Africa”, with the objective of making cross-border communication and transactions more reliable.
The proposed network would seek to allow individuals and businesses in different African countries to establish greater confidence when dealing with one another.
The ambition reflects a broader push towards a more integrated African digital economy, where businesses can increasingly communicate, verify counterparties and transact across national borders.
Digital Tools Seen as Job-Creation Enablers
The backing from the Senate and NITDA highlights the growing recognition of digital infrastructure and technology platforms as tools for tackling unemployment and expanding economic participation.
For Nigeria’s predominantly informal business environment, access to digital identity, verification and communication systems could help businesses build stronger customer relationships and become more visible to potential commercial partners.
However, the broader impact will depend on how widely such platforms are adopted and whether businesses and individuals can access the digital infrastructure required to use them effectively.
With Sky ID now unveiled, its developers are betting that combining communication with identity verification can help address trust challenges while creating new opportunities for businesses and workers.
The support from lawmakers and NITDA also signals continued government interest in partnerships with private technology companies as Nigeria seeks to deepen digital participation and turn innovation into tangible economic opportunities.
