NITDA highlights policy, partnerships as pillars of Nigeria’s digital future

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Inuwa, has reaffirmed the importance of policy in driving Nigeria’s digital transformation and building a sustainable technology ecosystem.

Speaking at the IoT West Africa Conference during a panel session themed “The Lagos-Abuja Digital Corridor: Building Africa’s Next Data Centre and Cloud Hub,” Inuwa said policy remains the foundation for enabling digital infrastructure and innovation across the country.

Represented by Dr. Aristotle Onumo, Director of Stakeholder Management and Partnership at NITDA, the agency’s boss explained that while infrastructure development is largely demand-driven, effective policies are essential for creating the environment needed for long-term growth.

He noted that Nigeria’s broadband policy, which targets minimum internet speeds of 10 Mbps in rural areas and 25 Mbps in urban centres, was designed to support strategic infrastructure expansion along the Lagos-Abuja digital corridor.

According to him, stronger collaboration among government institutions, private sector players and civil society groups is necessary to achieve large-scale digital infrastructure deployment.

“Collaboration is the pathway that massifies impact, while partnership harnesses collective intelligence. No one can achieve this in isolation,” he said.

Onumo also highlighted the Nigerian Sovereign Cloud Project, an initiative aimed at strengthening indigenous cloud service providers and reducing dependence on foreign-controlled digital infrastructure.

He said the project seeks to encourage local data hosting, lower operational costs and improve access to cloud services nationwide.

The NITDA official stressed that policy should not only support infrastructure growth but also stimulate demand for digital services.

He cited the consolidation of servers by government agencies as an example of policies capable of driving demand for cloud computing and data centre investments.

“We are no longer looking at IT from the perspective of infrastructure alone, but as an integrated system that creates value for the people,” Onumo stated.

He further called for increased public-private partnerships in the co-creation and delivery of digital infrastructure and services.

Onumo also referenced NITDA’s Digital Literacy for All initiative, which aims to ensure that 70 per cent of Nigerians acquire digital skills by 2027.

According to him, the agency is partnering with the National Youth Service Corps to deploy digital literacy champions across the country’s 774 local government areas, with a target of training 30 million Nigerians within three years.

Also speaking at the conference, the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, stressed the need for stronger data protection and privacy frameworks to safeguard Nigeria’s digital economy.

Olatunji described data centres as critical infrastructure for the country’s digital transformation, while expressing concern that more than 90 per cent of Nigeria’s data is currently hosted outside the country.

He warned that the trend poses risks to national data sovereignty and called for increased investment in local data infrastructure, noting that the sector is projected to grow to $1.9 billion by 2031.

The IoT West Africa Conference brought together policymakers, technology experts and industry leaders to discuss developments in Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, smart cities and digital transformation.