Tinubu Gives 180 Days for Full Launch of Digital Free Zones

President Bola Tinubu has given the government 180 days to prepare for the full launch of Nigeria’s Digital Free Zones, a plan aimed at helping tech and service companies raise money globally while keeping their businesses and jobs in Nigeria.

The directive, disclosed on Thursday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, tasks the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, with spearheading the effort. She will collaborate with the Itana Innovation project and the Presidential Steering Committee on Digital Free Zones, which President Tinubu chairs, to ensure the initiative moves swiftly from concept to implementation.

For years, a persistent challenge has plagued Nigeria’s booming tech ecosystem: promising startups and scale-ups have frequently felt compelled to incorporate abroad and domicile their intellectual property in foreign jurisdictions. This “brain and capital drain” is driven by the need to access global venture capital, favorable regulatory environments, and international markets. The new initiative seeks to fundamentally reverse this trend.

Under the proposed framework, the Federal Government aims to create an ecosystem where Nigerian technology and service companies can raise international capital, employ local talent, and serve global markets all while retaining their headquarters, operations, and intellectual property on Nigerian soil.

“Nigeria has the talent, enterprise, and ambition to build companies that can compete anywhere in the world,” President Tinubu stated. “Our responsibility as a government is to ensure that Nigerians do not have to leave Nigeria or rely on other jurisdictions to realise that potential.”

The President emphasized that the administration is determined to capture a greater proportion of the economic value generated by Nigerian innovators. By modernizing a free zone framework that has remained largely unchanged for over three decades, the government hopes to create a fertile ground for the digital economy. This includes enabling young Nigerians to work remotely for global companies while remaining in the country, thereby generating high-value opportunities for engineers, developers, designers, lawyers, and accountants.

“For too long, some of our most promising young entrepreneurs have felt compelled to establish their companies and intellectual property abroad to access global capital and markets. I do not accept that this must remain the case,” Tinubu declared. “I want the next generation of African technology, finance, and service companies to be built, headquartered, and scaled to the world from Nigerian soil.”

The initiative is already gaining tangible traction through Itana, licensed by the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) as the country’s first official Digital Free Zone. Itana is designed to provide a robust, globally compliant platform for both local and pan-African digital businesses to establish and scale their operations from within Nigeria.

As the 180-day clock begins to tick, the pressure is on the Presidential Steering Committee to deliver a regulatory and infrastructural framework that matches the ambition of the vision. If successful, this initiative could transform Nigeria from a mere talent pool for the global tech industry into a formidable, self-sustaining hub of African innovation, keeping both the minds and the wealth they generate firmly at home.