Analysis of Electronic Commerce for the Promotion of Sustainable Development in Nigeria: Addressing Challenges and Envisaging Future Prospects

Abstract

Internet adoption has touched all parts of life, including e-commerce, at a remarkable speed. E-commerce may boost Nigeria's economy, create jobs, promote financial inclusion, and assist local enterprises. E-commerce has many benefits, but its usage for Nigeria's sustainable growth remains predominantly low. The study adopts a traditional literature review and desktop content analysis approach and examines e-commerce for sustainable development in Nigeria, including challenges, potential, and prospects. The findings reveal that despite advances, infrastructural deficiencies hamper Nigerian e-commerce growth, particularly, frequent electricity outages and logistics, data and privacy concerns, digital inequality, high cost of data and security, environmental effects, legal and regulatory uncertainty, and poor road networks and lack of awareness and ignorance of e-commerce existence. The study concludes that Nigeria can maximise e-commerce for sustainable development by improving electricity outages, digital skills, financial inclusion, legal and regulatory framework efficiency, environmental impact, and building online trust and confidence.