It has been launched recently and it will open a new avenue for access to government information, this is the Federal Government which is highly supported by Omobola Johnson, the Minister of Communication Technology.

The minister said that the beginning of this process makes Nigeria the world’s first Federal Open Data initiative to collectively unveil inclusive and continuing consultations with both government and non-government communities on their Open Data priorities to develop the country’s national Open Data implementation plan.

The Nigeria Federal Open Data Initiative, supported by the World Bank and Department for International Development (DFID), aims to highlight the potential efficiency, innovations and public value that can be achieved when government uses technology to open its data.

Government expects the impact on economic growth to be colossal as analysis by global consulting firm McKinsey indicates that Open Data generates more than $3 trillion of new economic value for the U.S. economy alone. Also the weather data of the US is worth $30 billion annually, while the total worth of Global Positioning System GPS data is worth $90 billion.

The launch of the Open Data Initiative heralded by an Open Data Stakeholder Engagement Workshop brought together more than 120 representatives from across MDAs, and the private and nonprofit sectors to identify priorities and actions to inform the implementation of the Nigeria Federal Open Data.

The Workshop was designed to explore the role of Open Data in organisational innovation; highlight the public value that can be created by opening government data, as well as challenges and mitigation strategies associated with these efforts; discussing best practices and lessons learned in opening up government data from across regions and enable data user communities to identify valuable datasets that can drive innovation, investment and job creation.

Initial stakeholder consultations commenced on January 23 with a kickoff meeting hosted by the Ministry of Communication Technology, which was attended by 63 representatives from across MDAs, followed by deeper brainstorming with individual MDAs.