By BONIFACE AKARAH

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has unveiled reforms aimed at changing how government buys and deploys technology, with the agency saying the measures will strengthen local software, improve value for money and deepen Nigeria’s digital sovereignty.

NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, disclosed this at the 66th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where he spoke on “Nigeria First, Procurement Last: How E-commerce is Rewriting Contracts.”

Inuwa said the reforms were designed to make public procurement a tool for developing Nigeria’s technology industry rather than merely a process for spending government funds.

“We look at public procurement not just as a way of government spending money, but as a powerful instrument government has for shaping markets, for building our national capabilities, as well as for creating opportunities for our innovators,” he said.

The NITDA boss disclosed that the agency received proposals for 1,092 IT projects from 326 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) between July 2023 and July 2026, with the proposed projects valued at more than ₦4.24 trillion. Of these, 1,056 projects worth ₦3.84 trillion had been cleared by the agency.

He identified three major reforms covering IT project planning, software assurance and sovereign cloud infrastructure.

Under the new IT Project Clearance Framework, Inuwa said MDAs would be required to properly design technology solutions before making budgetary provisions for them.

“The first is the strengthening of the IT Project Clearance Framework, under which MDAs will be required to have a proper solution design before making budgetary provisions for IT projects,” he said.

He explained that NITDA would certify companies providing solution design, implementation and quality assurance services, while preventing one company from performing all three functions on the same project.

According to him, the arrangement would improve standardisation, accountability and value for money in government technology spending.

The second reform, the Software Assurance Framework, is intended to improve confidence in locally developed software and reduce dependence on imported off-the-shelf solutions.

Inuwa said Nigerian organisations often spend heavily modifying foreign software to suit local needs, only to incur additional costs when vendors release new versions.

He said NITDA was therefore promoting solution design, software testing, standards and assurance, including the licensing of software testing companies to assess locally developed solutions.

The third reform is tied to the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative, which seeks to build Nigeria’s capacity to control and manage its digital infrastructure and sensitive data within the country.

“When we talk about digital sovereignty, it's about us as a nation to build the capability for digital self-determination,” Inuwa said.

He explained that the initiative would provide certification across key segments of the cloud ecosystem, including infrastructure providers, data centres, cloud service providers, system integrators and cloud aggregators.

Inuwa said the reforms would also create room for Nigerian technology companies to develop, host and scale solutions locally, while reducing dependence on foreign technology systems.

He urged public institutions to change the way they define technology projects, saying government agencies should focus less on specifying particular technologies and more on identifying the problems to be solved and the outcomes expected.

The NITDA DG also called on members of the legal profession to pay closer attention to data ownership, processing and storage, data portability, intellectual property, security and contractual responsibilities when drafting technology agreements.

He said lessons from Nigeria’s fintech sector showed what could happen when policy and market opportunities deliberately create room for local innovation.

Inuwa challenged stakeholders to replicate such opportunities in healthcare, education, agriculture and other sectors, stressing that procurement could become a major driver of local technology development and economic growth.

The reforms, he added, are expected to strengthen Nigeria’s digital capacity while positioning public-sector technology spending as a means of building local industries, creating opportunities for innovators and advancing the country’s long-term digital independence.