The COO of the blockchain education platform Bitkova Academy, Bello Usman Abdullahi, Identifies Language Barrier as a Key Challenge.
Even though Nigeria has a high level of blockchain and cryptocurrency awareness, the country still needs to confront public education challenges. At the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria’s (SIBAN) Digital Assets Summit 2023, conducted in the nation’s capital, Abuja, local experts discussed the challenges of blockchain education in Nigeria.
In the panel titled Web3 Education: Capacity Building, the group discussed the present level of blockchain and Web3 awareness in the country and the obstacles encountered thus far on the journey.
The chief operating officer of the blockchain education platform Bitkova Academy, Bello Usman Abdullahi, stated that the language barrier is one of the current main challenges due to the complexity and jargon of blockchain technology. Nigeria is one of the world’s most linguistically diverse nations, with over 500 spoken languages.
Nonetheless, local blockchain centers have begun educating those unfamiliar with blockchain technology in local Nigerian languages. Abdullahi stated that assisting those unfamiliar with blockchain technology and Web3 is essential to comprehend what Satoshi Nakamoto intended to accomplish.
This is necessary to correct the dread and negativity that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the government have instilled in the minds of the citizens, he said
The CBN severed connections between local banks and cryptocurrency exchange firms in February 2021. According to Abdullahi, this action by the government and the CBN delayed blockchain awareness in Nigeria by associating blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies with negative perceptions.
Google Trends data indicates that Nigeria’s crypto interest has improved, with the country falling from the top rank to No. 2 globally regarding search interest for Bitcoin
.
