The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is implementing far-reaching reforms to Nigeria’s Information Technology (IT) procurement process, with a focus on improving the quality of government technology projects, strengthening confidence in locally developed software and advancing the country’s digital sovereignty.
Director General of NITDA, 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 during a plenary session themed, “Nigeria First, Procurement Last: How E-commerce is Rewriting Contracts.”
Inuwa said the reforms are designed to reposition public procurement as a strategic tool for building national technological capacity, stimulating local innovation and ensuring that government investments in technology deliver measurable value.
He said the initiatives align with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its focus on reforming the economy for sustained inclusive growth, improving governance and service delivery, and accelerating diversification through industrialisation and digitisation.
Providing an insight into the scale of government IT procurement, the NITDA DG revealed that between July 2023 and July 2026, the Agency received proposals for 1,092 IT projects from 326 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), out of more than 1,300 MDAs nationwide.
He said the proposed projects were valued at more than ₦4.24 trillion, while 1,056 projects with a combined value of ₦3.84 trillion were cleared by NITDA.
Against this backdrop, Inuwa identified three major reforms being implemented by the Agency to address persistent challenges in IT project planning, software adoption and digital infrastructure.
“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.
According to him, NITDA will certify companies providing solution design, implementation and quality assurance services, while safeguards will be introduced to ensure that the three functions are not performed by the same organisation on a single project.
Using the construction industry as an analogy, Inuwa explained that IT projects, like buildings, should be properly designed before implementation.
He said the approach would promote standardisation, strengthen accountability and ensure better value for money in government technology investments.
The second reform is the Software Assurance Framework, which is being developed to increase confidence in locally developed software and reduce dependence on off-the-shelf solutions.
Inuwa observed that many Nigerian organisations spend substantial resources customising software developed for foreign markets to suit local requirements, only to incur additional costs when vendors release new versions.
He stressed that Nigerian organisations have unique business objectives and operational requirements, making it imperative to develop and adopt technology solutions that reflect local realities.
To address this challenge, he said NITDA is promoting solution design, software testing, standards and assurance, including the licensing of software testing companies to independently assess locally developed solutions.
The third reform is anchored on NITDA’s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative, which is aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s digital sovereignty and building the nation’s capacity for digital self-determination.
“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 strengthen Nigeria’s digital public infrastructure while creating greater opportunities for locally developed innovations to be built, hosted and scaled within the country.
According to him, the framework provides for certification across critical segments of the cloud ecosystem, including infrastructure providers and data centres, cloud service providers, system integrators and cloud aggregators, while establishing appropriate requirements for the handling of sensitive and critical data.
Beyond reforming technology procurement, Inuwa challenged stakeholders to recognise public procurement as a strategic instrument capable of shaping markets, building national capabilities and creating opportunities for Nigerian innovators.
“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.
He cited the growth of Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem as evidence of what deliberate policy interventions and market opportunities can achieve, urging stakeholders to explore similar opportunities in healthcare, education, agriculture and other sectors.
The NITDA DG also called for a fundamental rethink of how public institutions specify IT requirements, advising them to focus less on prescribing particular technologies and more on clearly defining the problems to be solved, the programmes to be implemented and the outcomes expected.
He further underscored the critical role of the legal profession in ensuring that technology contracts adequately address issues including data ownership, data processing and storage, data portability, intellectual property, cybersecurity and contractual responsibilities.
According to him, clearer and more comprehensive technology contracts would strengthen the protection of public institutions, improve accountability and enhance confidence in government technology investments.
Ultimately, he said, the reforms are intended to transform public procurement from a mechanism for government spending into a catalyst for local innovation, technology development, digital capacity-building and Nigeria’s long-term digital sovereignty.
