Boardroom News

With NITDA reaffirming its role as the clearinghouse for all government IT projects and in accordance with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda to improve governance for efficient service delivery, the Agency has launched a campaign to examine IT projects of Federal Public Institutions for the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, and Bureau of Public Procurement.
The main purpose of the visit was to introduce NITDA’s Reviewed IT Project Clearance Guidance Document, an updated framework intended to standardize the planning, financing, and implementation of IT projects in accordance with national objectives for the digital economy. The document, which is an update to the 2018 Guidelines for Clearance of IT Projects, highlights transparency, cost-effectiveness, and regulatory compliance. It also strengthens NITDA’s position as the clearinghouse for all government IT projects under the National Information Technology Development Act (2007).
Throughout these visits, the Director General of NITDA emphasized that the Agency cannot accomplish the Renewed Hope Agenda of digitally transforming the economy by working alone. “And we must investigate ways to improve our alliances and cooperation in accordance with the President’s agenda.”
If the nation wishes to keep its top spot in Africa, he claimed, IT projects must be implemented with greater intentionality and focus. “We go for the latest technology, fail to design before building the technology, and fail to consider the business value proposition we are trying to deliver with the projects,” he said, citing the reason why 56% of IT projects failed to deliver on what was promised.
Inuwa told his hosts that NITDA has reviewed the IT Clearance Guideline to protect against that because there is no room for accountability or transparency and many IT projects have failed because most Ministries, Departments, and Agencies build IT projects based on the proposals that are submitted to them by the contractors who will design, implement, and operate the projects.

“The government is one of the digital services we are creating. To provide these services, we must collaborate and work in harmony, just as the IT system does. We must be more deliberate in our design and implementation if we are to accomplish this. Additionally, he cautioned that they will never collaborate if we keep designing and implementing in silos.

According to him, the goal of the reviewed guidelines is to make sure that IT projects are planned with interoperability in mind so that Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) can investigate shared services and adhere to best practices and standards.

The guidelines will help MDAs with system design, operation, and maintenance because building these systems involves more than just technology; people, processes, and essential components are crucial.

The Director General claims that the suggested guideline includes three steps for implementing IT projects: solution design, implementation, and quality assurance. He went on to say that in the future, contractors will need to obtain a license and certified personnel for their businesses in order to be considered for government IT projects.

“These steps are intended to eradicate corruption, avoid duplication, and guarantee that government IT projects are organized to bring about significant transformation—promoting effectiveness, equity, and justice in public service.”
The importance of standardizing IT Project Bidding Documents was emphasized by Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement. It is depressing when organizations abuse IT projects to divert public funds that could be used for meaningful projects that have the potential to change the nation, he said.

“But with this new guideline our decision should pave ways for the development of the IT sector of the country,” he revealed, referring to MDAs that include IT projects that were adopted without standardization and guidelines.

He stated that the Bureau has created a standard bidding document for the IT procurement and that the meeting is essential to eliminating corruption in the execution of IT projects. He also pointed out that officials use the intangible nature of most IT project components to embezzle public funds.

“As NITDA, we have a great responsibility to prevent corruption and duplication of IT projects, and to guarantee accountability and transparency in the awarding of IT projects for the Federal Public Institutions,” he stated. The fact that we are using resources that could be used to address other national needs is depressing, and we must put an end to this waste.