Dr. Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission – NCC has urged the newly inaugurated Nigeria IPv6 Council to develop a credible pathway to raise Nigeria’s IPv6 adoption from approximately 5% today to a level that places us among Africa’s leading nations within the next three years.
He stated this at the inauguration of Nigeria IPv6 Council in Lagos on Thursday. Quoting APNIC’s 2026 global measurements, “Nigeria’s IPv6 adoption stands at approximately 5% while leading economies have surpassed 40%. Global IPv4 reserves are exhausted, while the rapid expansion of 5G networks, the Internet of Things, cloud services, and AI-driven applications has pushed the limits of legacy internet addressing.
“At the same time, the cyber-threat landscape continues to intensify. In this context, IPv6 is a strategic necessity for national competitiveness, security, and economic sovereignty.”
Dr. Maida urged the Council to drive collaboration between stakeholders to ensure alignment with the National IPv6 Deployment Strategy.
“To our operators, government colleagues, and enterprise partners, the time for the adoption of, and prioritisation of IPv6 deployment across your networks and platforms is now. Invest in training your technical teams,and ensure that your infrastructure and procurement pipelines are IPv6-ready by default. The investments you make today will determine Nigeria’s digital competitiveness tomorrow.”
The commission mandated the Council to establish a monitoring and reporting framework;Including providing quarterly progress updates to the Commission and an annual State of IPv6 Deployment report to the nation.
More so, drive capacity building and certification by partnering with AFRINIC, academic institutions, and professional bodies to train a critical mass of IPv6-certified engineers across Nigeria.
Champion public sector leadership by working with MDAs to migrate government networks, websites, and e-services to dual-stack or IPv6-native configurations, so that the public sector leads by example.
Engage industry players and the private sector, working with operators, ISPs, data centres, content providers, and financial institutions to remove deployment barriers and unlock private investment in IPv6 infrastructure.
They were also urged to advise on policy and regulation, recommending to the Commission the incentives, standards, and procurement guidelines required to accelerate nationwide adoption.
Mr. Muhammed Rudman, chairman of the Nigeria IPv6 Council in his presentation said that With IPv4 addresses exhausted worldwide, continued reliance on legacy resource creates scalability bottlenecks.
“Our growing digital economy is projected to reach $18.3 billion in revenue by 2026—requires modern addressing capabilities. Without urgent IPv6 transition, Nigeria risks being left behind as emerging technologies like 5G, IoT, and cloud services demand the expanded address space only IPv6 can provide
“IPv6 is essential for Nigeria’s digital transformation, providing the foundation for unlimited connectivity, enhanced security, and next-generation technologies that will drive economic growth and innovation.
“IPv6 provides 340 undecillion IP addresses, ensuring every device in Nigeria can connect directly to the internet without costly workarounds or address sharing.
“Built-in IPsec encryption improves network security. Enables IoT, cloud computing, AI, and smart city initiatives critical to Nigeria’s digital economy, he added.
As a catalyst for National Development, he said IPv6 enables expansion of digital services, e-commerce platforms, and fintech solutions, driving economic diversification and job creation across Nigeria.
“Expanded internet access reaches underserved communities while seamless device integration connects millions of Nigerians to the digital economy.
IPv6 provides the foundation for IoT deployments, smart city initiatives, and AI-powered services that will transform Nigeria’s technological landscape,” he stated.
