President Buhari assents to Nigeria Start-Up Bill. It is now the Nigeria Start-Up Act 2022.

The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari assented to the Nigeria Start-Up Bill, today, the 19th of October 2022. The Nigeria Startup Bill is now known as The Nigeria Startup Act 2022.

The announcement was made on Twitter by Professor Isa Pantami, Nigeria’s Minister of Digital Economy on his page.

According to him, “BREAKING! His Excellency, @MBuhari has just assented to Nigeria Start-up Bill. It has now become Nigeria Start-Up Act, 2022. It was an Executive Bill, initiated by both Office of the Chief of Staff & the Office of the Minister of Comms & Digital Economy. Congratulations to all!”

The Nigeria Startup Bill project is a joint initiative by Nigeria’s tech startup ecosystem and the Presidency to harness the potential of its digital economy through co-created regulations.

The objective of this Act is to provide a legal and institutional framework for the development of startups in Nigeria and to:

• Provide an enabling environment for the establishment, development and operation of startups in Nigeria;
• Foster the development and growth of technology-related talent and;
• Provide Nigeria’s startup ecosystem as the leading digital technology hub in Africa, having excellent innovators with cutting-edge skills and exportable capacity

Since its inception in 2021 following President Mohammadu Buhari’s speech, there have been several focus groups and townhalls across different regions, learning series engagements, state rallies, and roundtable discussions all aimed at getting the inputs of stakeholders from different backgrounds and regions within the country.

The Nigeria Startup Bill passed its third reading at the lower house of the country’s parliament, the House of Representatives on the 27th of July 2022. This followed the passage of the same bill by the Senate on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. The President finally assented to today.

One of the provisions in the Act is the Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which the President will lead as the Chairman.

The main function of the council is to ensure the monitoring and evaluation of the regulatory framework, formulate and provide general policy guidelines for the realisation of the Startup Act’s objectives and give overall directions for the harmonisation of laws and regulations that affect a startup.

The full content of the Act will be made public in due course.