E-commerce activities in Nigeria are rapidly growing as a result of vast improvements in telecommunication services. And e-banking is one area of e-commerce that has proven successful in Nigeria. The growth of internet users from year 2000 to 2019 is sporadic as it recorded 73% growth rates. This study explores the benefits of e-commerce and the challenges of e-commerce that inhibit its successful operation in Nigeria. Survey research was adopted for this study. The questionnaire was designed and administered randomly to 1200 respondents. Collected data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The findings indicate that the major benefits of e-commerce adoption in Nigeria are increased sales, competitive advantage, customer loyalty, increased automation of processes, extended application of new technology, better knowledge management, and enhanced well-being and education of customer. The key challenges identified in the Nigerian context include power outages and frequent power interruption, insecurity, technology cost, lack of trust in web retailers, software compatibility, and acquisition of IT skilled personnel. The study recommends, among other issues, the need for adequate publicity on e-commerce with emphasis on e-shopping, e-banking, and e-business. Keywords: Nigeria, e-commerce, benefits, challenges, Internet

E-commerce Development in Nigeria

In view of the importance attached to e-commerce, the Federal Government of Nigeria through her various agencies came up with various institutional arrangement to sanitise the finance sector of the economy, check the tide of fraudulent practices in the country and to check the financial malpractice of banks. The following are some of the major efforts made by the Nigerian government to promote the development of e-commerce in Nigeria: Legislative Efforts: The government of Nigeria instituted a number of regulatory measures to sanitize the finance sector of the economy, such as the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) Act of 1999; the national Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act of 1989; the Money laundering Act of 1995; the Failed Bank (recovery of debt and financial malpractice of banks) Act of 1994. They were set up to check the tide of fraudulent practices in the country. The other bodies instituted to check the menace of fraud are the National Cyber Crime Working Group (NCWG), and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) among others (Lawal & Ogbu, 2015). As part of the efforts to curb the tide of fraudulent practices in the financial institutions in Nigeria, a Nigerian (IT) solutions provider is already in partnership with SAS of South Africa to introduce an anti-money laundering solution for the financial service institutions (Chibueze, 2006) cited in Lawal and Ogbu (2015).

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On-Going ICT Projects: These include the mobile internet Units (MIUs) and the WIN project. The mobile internet Units include businesses equipped with ICT facilities such as PCs, VSATs and peripheral devices which are used to carry ICT education to rural areas. The WIN project is a project tagged “Wire Nigeria”. It was intended to provide ICT infrastructure to all the nooks and crannies of the country. The project includes the provision of VSATs to the 774 local governments areas in the country, and the installation of the necessary infrastructures particularly, fibre optic backbone across the nation (Lawal & Ogbu, 2015). National Policy for Information: The policy formulated in the year 2000 is responsible for the monumental development in the sector. The vision is to make Nigeria an IT capable country in Africa and a key player in the information society. Its primary mission is to “Use IT” for education; creation of wealth; poverty eradication; job creation; governance; health; agriculture etc. (Ajayi, 2005) cited in Lawal and Ogbu (2015). However, in the year 2006, Nigeria was reported as the fastest growing telecoms nation in Africa. According to Iroegbu (2013), e-commerce is growing very rapidly, an estimated volume of about N75 billion was done by e-commerce in Nigeria as at 2012 and if that is current, in another four or five years we will be looking at N160 billion.