The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has announced a series of strategic reforms aimed at overhauling Information Technology (IT) procurement, boosting confidence in homegrown software, and advancing Nigeria’s digital sovereignty. Speaking at the 66th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, Inuwa emphasized that these initiatives directly support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda to drive economic diversification, improve governance, and enforce the “Nigeria First” policy across public institutions. Highlighting the scale of public tech spending, Inuwa revealed that between July 2023 and July 2026, NITDA reviewed 1,092 IT project proposals valued at over ₦4.24 trillion from 326 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). Out of these submissions, the Agency cleared 1,056 projects worth ₦3.84 trillion. These figures underscore the need for structured oversight to guarantee that public technology investments generate measurable value and actively contribute to the expansion of the domestic digital economy. To resolve systemic bottlenecks in project execution, NITDA is rolling out three targeted structural pillars, beginning with an enhanced IT Project Clearance Framework. This measure requires MDAs to complete a comprehensive solution design before securing budgetary allocations—a practice Inuwa likened to securing architectural blueprints before erecting a building. Under this framework, NITDA will independently certify solution designers, implementers, and quality assurance providers, establishing strict firewalls to ensure no single entity handles all three stages on any given project. The second pillar focuses on a Software Assurance Framework designed to curb excessive reliance on foreign off-the-shelf software and elevate trust in domestic applications. Inuwa noted that Nigerian organizations routinely waste capital modifying foreign software for local use, only to face recurring costs during vendor update cycles. By licensing local software testing firms and establishing rigorous quality benchmarks, NITDA aims to promote solutions tailored specifically to the country’s operational environment and commercial requirements. The third pillar leverages the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative to establish digital self-determination and secure domestic control over critical data assets. This initiative establishes a robust certification framework spanning infrastructure operators, data centres, cloud providers, and system integrators. By mandating localized hosting and management standards for sensitive information, the policy safeguards national data while providing the foundational infrastructure necessary for local innovators to build and scale domestic technologies. Beyond procurement oversight, Inuwa urged stakeholders to treat public spending as an active catalyst for building indigenous capabilities and shaping markets rather than a passive expense. Pointing to Nigeria’s fintech sector as proof of what purposeful policy and open market access can deliver, he challenged industry leaders and public administrators to replicate this success across critical domains such as healthcare, agriculture, and education. Public institutions were further advised to transition from prescribing rigid technical specifications to clearly defining the underlying problems and target outcomes they seek to resolve. Inuwa concluded by charging the legal community to draft technology contracts that rigorously address data ownership, intellectual property rights, data portability, and security liabilities, ensuring public investments remain protected while positioning procurement as a driver of long-term national innovation.
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