Digital Trade Governance and Nigeria’s Position in Emerging International Internet Regulation Frameworks

This study examines Nigeria's evolving position in international frameworks governing digital trade, internet governance, and data flows, assessing how Nigeria has engaged with institutions including the World Trade Organisation's e-commerce negotiations, the Internet Governance Forum, and the African Union's Digital Transformation Strategy. Digital trade governance has emerged as one of the most contested arenas of international economic diplomacy, with major powers advancing competing visions for open versus controlled internet architecture. Nigeria, as Africa's largest digital economy, occupies an important position in these debates. Drawing on digital sovereignty theory and international political economy, this research analyses Nigeria's official positions and negotiating behaviour in digital trade forums from 2019 to 2024, examining the coherence between Nigeria's domestic digital policies, including the Data Protection Act 2023 and the National Information Technology Policy, and its international digital governance posture. The study employs a qualitative methodology, drawing on WTO negotiation records, IGF participation documentation, Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy policy papers, and interviews with digital policy advocates at the Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NiRA). Findings are expected to reveal a nascent but strategically significant Nigerian engagement with digital governance, hampered by limited technical negotiating capacity and weak domestic-international policy coherence. Keywords: digital trade, internet governance, Nigeria, data sovereignty, WTO.