Expert Commends NITDA on E-commerce Policy

Ahmed Adesanya, IT Security and Connectivity consultant, has commended National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for coming up with e-commerce policy, which addresses fraud issues associated with e-commerce business in the country.

Adesanya stated this in an interview with Nigeria CommunicationsWeek. He said: “Over the past few years, consumers have steadily been shifting to a digital-first way of life as online activities and transactions become more accessible and convenient.

“To take advantage of the market growth, E-Commerce institutions have significantly focused on improving their digital customer experience in efforts to attract and attain online audiences, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With the E-commerce drafted regulation, 2019 by NITDA is an effective policy that will protect the integrity of the Electronics Commerce Industry from criminal threat, as well as boost public confidence in the use of electronic payments.

“The new eCommerce policy 2019 is masterpiece legislation, which will help to create the level playing for all the sellers. The new policy aims to protect the interests of domestic players i.e. startups and MSMEs who have to face fierce competition from those having deep pockets from foreign investors.

“Warranty of goods and services that are sold on marketplaces is now the responsibility of the seller. The platform will not be responsible for them. Also, the eCommerce marketplace entity will not put pressure upon any seller to sell any product predominantly on its platform,” he said.

Other benefits of the policy according to him, include, “The interests of the domestic players will be protected. The malpractices, predatory pricing policies and deep discounting of eCommerce players which were a part from day one will be a matter of past.

“More options for customers. By preventing exclusive marketing or exclusive selling rights, customers will get an opportunity to choose from a number of portals. For instance, if a mobile phone was available exclusively on Jumia or Amazon will now be available on other portals too.

“Enabling a level play field for all sellers.  Any services be it logistics, warehousing or easy financing will now be offered to all kinds of sellers. Additional prices cannot be charged from the third-party sellers for such services.

“There will be currency crunch. This policy will also ensure that the currency of Nigerians remains in Nigeria and is circulated in the market, which was not happening until now. Consumers, bought from online retailers the majority of which was foreign-owned, money flew from Nigeria, markets were cashless. The circulation of money was restricted”.