APPRAISING NIGERIA READINESS FOR ECOMMERCE TOWARDS: ACHIEVING VISION 20: 2020

The cardinal point of vision 20:2020 of Federal republic of Nigeria is that “By 2020 Nigeria will be one of the 20 largest economies in the world able to consolidate its leadership role in Africa and establish itself as a significant player in the global economic and political arena.” [NV2020]. To attain this overarching goal of reaching the top 20 economies by year 2020, the Country will need to enhance her economic development performance under the key parameters of Polity, Macro-economy, Infrastructure, Education, Health, Agriculture, and Manufacturing. Suffice to say, these parameters are not exhaustive. [NV2020]. While this program sounds laudable both in theory and in practice, and could be seen as a right step in the right direction, the question however is considering the political situation, infrastructure development, Macro-economic policies in the country, “how prepared is Nigeria in attaining these lofty goals by year 2020”?. Nigeria is one of developing countries that are yet to enter the mainstream of eCommerce, yet is having a dream to become a significant player in the global economy by 2020. Given the prevailing situation in the global market today eCommerce is one of the key global marketing strategies and Nigeria is yet to enter the market. This paper is written to sensitize the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) which is the umbrella body for Information Technology in Nigeria, the eCommerce stakeholders in Nigeria, such as Nigeria Internet Group (NIG); Internet Services Providers‟ Association of Nigeria (ISPAN); The Nigerian Cyber-crime Working Group(NCWG), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), banks, businesses, technocrats and the Federal Government of Nigeria to wake up from their dream and join this global economic train towards achieving the vision 2020 goals.