Emma Okonji
The Chairman, Senate Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity, Senator Shuaib Salisu, has said the National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill is ready and will be delivered for presidential assent and passage into law in few weeks.
According to him, the bill has passed through the first and second readings in the National Assembly and currently going through the third reading, before it will be presented for presidential assent and approval to make it a law.
After its passage, the document will automatically transform from National Digital Economy and e-Governance Bill into National Digital Economy and e-Governance Act 2026, Salisu said.
The Senate Committee Chairman on ICT and Cybersecurity said this in Lagos during the AI Summit organised by T&A Legal.
He explained that bill remained important, hence he quickly moved to amend it in 2024, with a further amendment in 2025 and 2026 to bring it to par with the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime document.
“That bill has gone through first reading. It has gone through second reading. It is in the third reading. In the next few weeks, that bill will be passed into law and it will no longer be a bill, but an Act that will be addressed as National Digital Economy and E-Governance Act 2026,” Salisu said.
According to him, “One of the first things I did as committee chair was to amend the bill in 2024. But in December 2025, the United Nations adopted some new activities under the UN Convention against Cybercrime, and we had to amend the bill again in 2026 to be at par with the UN Convention against Cybercrime.”
The National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill (NDEEB 2024), was proposed in 2024 by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy to provide a unified legal framework for digital transactions, electronic signatures, and paperless public administration in Nigeria.
The bill seeks to shift Nigeria away from paper-based systems by granting electronic transactions, contracts and digital signatures the same legal weight as traditional paper documents
The key objectives of the bill in addressing legal certainty, is to recognise electronic time-stamps as legally binding, removing long standing ambiguities in digital commerce. In the area of e-Governance, the bill mandates digitisation of government services across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), aiming to reduce paperwork, combat corruption and improve citizen access to public services. The bill also sets baseline standards for transparency, personal protection and online dispute resolution for consumers.
Salisu who read part of the bill to the audience, said: “The bill seeks to strengthen legal certainty and promote public confidence in integrity and reliability of electronic transactions, communication and records. It will promote and facilitate the utilisation of information and communication technology by public institutions, to enhance service delivery to citizens, strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of government processes, procedures and systems. It will also foster transparency openness, and accountability in governance. It will reform, harmonise, and amend existing legislation as necessary to facilitate and accelerate digital economy in Nigeria, and finally, to provide a regulatory framework for the development, implementation, and responsible use of Artificial Intelligence systems and other emerging technologies.”
According to him, under the application, the provision of the bill shall apply to all persons and public institutions in respect of their electronic transactions, communications, and records, governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, through service providers, whether established within or outside Nigeria. The bill is designed to provide, enable, or support within Nigeria, public institutions as related to their processes, procedures, and systems. Finally, the bill, when passed into law, shall apply to AI agents and emerging technologies as defined in the bill, Salisu said.
“Under the bill, AI solutions and systems are also categorised into about four or five, depending on the category, and the requirement for deployment are also different. The whole essence is to provide an enabling framework. The 78-page document cannot be flawless and it is subject to further review,” Salisu further said.
