The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has called for a unified regulatory framework across Africa to remove overlapping mandates, shorten approval processes and make the continent more attractive to digital infrastructure investors.
Inuwa made the call while speaking at a Regulatory Roundtable on “Regulations that Builds: Aligning Policy and Digital Infrastructure Investment Priorities” at the ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 event in Nairobi, Kenya.
He argued that investors should not have to navigate a maze of government agencies with overlapping responsibilities before establishing or expanding digital infrastructure businesses.
According to him, governments must first coordinate their agencies internally and provide investors with a single regulatory interface capable of simplifying licensing, eliminating duplication and providing clear, predictable timelines for market entry.
“Infrastructure investors want government to act as one,” Inuwa emphasised, stressing that regulatory fragmentation can increase the cost and uncertainty associated with digital infrastructure investments.
The NITDA DG also advocated a shift from traditional sector-by-sector regulation to horizontal regulatory frameworks capable of addressing technologies that increasingly cut across multiple sectors.
He explained that the convergence of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and high-density data centres has made conventional vertical regulatory models less effective, requiring broad standards that sector-specific regulators can subsequently adopt and apply within their respective jurisdictions.
Inuwa cited Nigeria’s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative as an example of how such an approach can work in practice, and noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria leveraged NITDA’s horizontal framework to issue a single circular for the financial sector, enabling banks to comply with digital stability requirements without having to obtain separate approvals from multiple agencies.
Turning to the regional digital economy, Inuwa called for African countries to develop common standards around interoperability, trust and security, particularly for cross-border data flows.
He said clearly defined data classifications distinguishing sovereign in-country data from public and hybrid cloud assets would help countries exchange data more seamlessly while allowing regulators to recognise one another’s compliance standards and avoid repetitive local approval processes.
The NITDA chief further rejected the perception that regulators primarily view technology companies as sources of revenue, saying the agency’s regulatory philosophy is centred on enabling investment and economic growth.
He said NITDA operates a Regulatory Intelligence Framework designed to shape economic behaviour and create an environment conducive to business growth, rather than impose regulations as rigid barriers.
According to him, the agency does not charge businesses for its regulations, but focuses on market creation, local capacity development and attracting sustainable, long-term investment into Nigeria’s digital economy.
The roundtable brought together key voices from the technology, telecommunications, data protection and public policy sectors.
Other panellists included Caroline Okafor, Legal Enforcement and Regulation, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC); Tony Izuagbe Emoekpere, President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON); Mercy Ndegwa, Director, Public Policy, East & Horn of Africa/Economic Policy Lead, Africa, Meta; and Eng. Dennis Chepkwony, Director, Universal Service Fund, Communications Authority of Kenya.