The federal government has commenced initiatives to migrate its Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) to (IPv6) in line with the standard used globally to enhance cybersecurity and guarantee the integrity of its online transactions and exchange of information.

The move would also allow Nigeria to benefit from the 10 trillion dollars in global markets for the deployment and adoption of IPv6.

According to the Minister of Communications, Innovations, and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, IPv6 was already being deployed/adopted by a few countries such as the US, France, Saudi Arabia, China, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Dr Tijani said Nigeria would be the first country in Africa to deploy and adopt the IPv6 technology given the pace of its infrastructural development, and the commitment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to digital transformation and empowerment of the citizens.

The Minister made the remarks at the Digital Economy Complex, Mbora, Abuja, at the opening ceremony of the IPv6 Driven Digital Infrastructure Summit titled:” Bring Net 5.5G into Reality, Inspire New Growth “.

The Minister said the summit which was being organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) would provide a robust roadmap for the adoption of the latest internet technology.

He said Nigeria should not only invest massively in the adorption of IPv6 but inspire its deployment across Africa for mutual economic benefits.

Tijani said: “By 2050 we should be targeting 100 percent adoption of IPv6. We should not be comfortable with the consumption of internet technologies but with exporters of internet technologies. Thank God we have a President who is focused on digital transformation for the socio-economic benefits of Nigeria.

“The IPv6 protocol is the latest protocol responsible for ensuring that online transactions and activities allow authorities to identify users, not just for security but also to ensure that the system isn’t used inappropriately.

“Nigeria is now one of the first countries in Africa to migrate from IPv4 to IPv6, which means your providers can offer better services, ensure their systems are not easily hackable, and make sure the services they provide are always available by identifying where the traffic is coming from.

“These are the technicalities of how systems get hacked. This is a fantastic move by NITDA and all the partners to ensure Nigeria is multiple steps ahead. Some of our companies are now operating on IPv6, but we would like to see it become the standard for every critical service provider within the digital economy space.

“To what I’ve said on cybersecurity, you can’t really do cybersecurity if you can’t track the traffic and identify the sources. Cybersecurity often involves people hiding in certain places to attack the system, but IPv6 improves the country’s capability to track traffic and ensure our citizens are safe.”

The Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi said in terms of investment, IPv6 doesn’t require a huge amount because most of our devices today are IPv6 compatible.

 “The compatibility is there, but what’s lacking is the backward compatibility. For example, if you have an IPv4 device, you cannot access an IPv6 device. But most new devices are already IPv6 compatible, so it’s easy for us”, he said.

“What we need is strategy and policy direction because sometimes operators don’t like migrating since it requires them to change a lot of configurations,” the DG added.

Citing research by a US-based technological institution, Abdullahi said adopting IPv6 would open a 10 trillion US dollar market globally.

“Considering our population in Nigeria, we can create a lot of activities from this. It will also help us address our cybersecurity challenges because, on average, every person in Africa has 1.5 devices. Most of us have more than two devices.

 “For example, I have two mobile phones, a smartwatch, laptops, and other devices connected to the internet. However, because of the scarcity of IPv6, all these devices are masked, meaning they cannot be directly identified.

“However, with IPv6, every person in the world can have billions of IP devices available for use. This will help address our cybersecurity challenges,” the NITDA boss stated.