Telecom
Information Technology Pivotal for Achieving Digital Nigeria– DG NITDA
Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has said that Information technology is connecting billions of people by providing them with access to knowledge and services, helping people to live more sustainably by making preservation or even regeneration of our natural resources possible.
The DG made this known on Wednesday during his remarks at the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) Innovative Forum Webinar with the theme: “Multi-Stakeholder Approach to National Recovery Post-COVID-19 Pandemic”.
He said, “The outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic has completely changed the way we live our lives.
“The onset of the pandemic has proven to be an extremely disruptive occurrence that has exacerbated the effects of several social issues previously unknown.
“This has also led to increase in entrepreneurial activities were Enterprises and individuals have shown increased creativity in tackling the challenges posed by the crisis.
“Virtual meetings are adopted by public and private institutions to address the issues of social distancing using video conferencing applications”.
Mallam Abdullahi asserted that in order to prepare Nigeria for the disruption caused by the Pandemic, the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy under the leadership of the Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has put in place many initiatives and programs towards a robust post COVID-19 experience, in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria.
The Policy, anchored on 8 Pillars – Developmental Regulation, Digital Literacy and Skills, Solid Infrastructure, Digital Services Development and Promotion, Soft Infrastructure, Digital Society and Emerging Technologies, and Indigenous Content Development and Adoption – outlines strategies for transforming Nigeria into a leading digital economy providing quality life and digital economies for all.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), one of the implementing arms of the Ministry, was mandated by the National Information Technology Development Act (2007) to create a framework for the planning, research, development, standardization, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of Information Technology practices, activities and systems in Nigeria.
The Agency’s role therefore is to develop Information technology in the country through regulatory standards, guidelines and policies.
It is the prime Agency for e-Government implementation, Internet governance and General IT development in Nigeria. Our activities in NITDA are aimed at fast-tracking the realisation of the objectives of NDEPS.
“We at NITDA, based on the directives of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, swiftly initiated several policies and programs for the technology ecosystem and startups to be able to withstand the potential impact of the Pandemic.
“We rolled out these initiatives in order to ensure that technology continues to enable innovation and entrepreneurship while addressing challenges of the society”, he said.
Tech4COVID-19 Committee was constituted with the aim of identifying the challenges the Technology ecosystem is facing during the COVID-19 Pandemic and to propose measures to cushion the effects of the pandemic.
“Members of the Committee were drawn from both the public and private sector and are key players in the Technology ecosystem who have made significant contributions to the Technology and Innovation ecosystem.
“The Committee’s recommendations include strategies to ensure we retain about 100,000 ICT Jobs as well as create additional 30,000 in Post COVID-19 Era through this initiative, he added.
The Agency organised Nigeria COVID-19 Innovation Challenge where Nigerians were challenged to come up with innovation to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic and beyond.
Over 1,500 startups participated and three emerged winners Algorizmi, a patient management solution particularly for victims of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Smart Disinfection Chamber, smart tunnel which can be used for disinfection of persons entering any location and Myclinic.ng, an online platform that enables users to hold video consultations with qualified medical doctors from anywhere and at any time, he asserted.
Mallam Abdullahi stated that “Nigeria has over 130 hubs and several hundreds of technology startups.
“These have the capacity of driving innovation and entrepreneurship, and stimulating the economy.
“The Academia, which has always been at the forefront of research and development, needs to expand its horizon to include innovation.
“We need more hubs in the academia to nurture the creativity of our youths. Collaboratively, we in NITDA are can make Nigeria a nucleus of innovation.
“To improve agricultural practices and create jobs, we initiated the National Adopted Village for SMART Agriculture (NAVSA), an ecosystem-driven digital platform where we engage farmers and focus on using precision/smart farming techniques to ensure significant improvement in efficiency and productivity thereby increasing crop yield; increased profit margin and create more jobs.
“We are partnering with relevant stakeholders to ensure the success of the scheme.
“As an example, MTN has developed a special package for smart farmers that come with 4G SIM cards with a one year internet data subscription, he added.
The Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), aimed at safeguarding the rights of persons to privacy, fostering safe conduct for the transactions involving the exchange of personal data, preventing manipulation of personal data, and ensuring that Nigerian businesses remain competitive in international trade through the safeguards afforded by a just and equitable legal regulatory framework, facilitated the creation of 2,686 jobs, added over 2 billion naira into the economy, and generated over 12 million naira to the Federal Government by filing Audit Reports.
The Agency has also deployed ICT infrastructure across the country. In addition to the numerous capacity building programmes in line with the Digital Literacy and Skills pillar of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, the Virtual Learning Platform of the NITDA Academy for Research and Training that provides access to wide variety of programmes from industry stakeholders has so far attracted over 33,000 active learners.
Earlier in his remarks, Mr Ike Nnamani, president Medallion Communications, stated that skills acquisition is key to the growth and development of any country.
“There is need to improve in the services rendered to the public and at the same time the price should be reasonable for affordability.
“Telecommunications is moving to data which is the new trend simple because of its easy access and usage which makes work faster and easier.
“Data centers are imperative towards the delivering services to the public which will boost the economy’s output, he added.
Nnamani asserted that there is need to build more data center across the country to provide easy access to services, simply because subscribers need good service to effect their operations which will aid the swift growth and development of the country Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Mr Aderemi Adejumo, managing director CloudFlex, said that the programme is coming at the right time the country needs it the most and applauded NITRA for this initiative towards the drive of Information Technology development across the country.
He added that 90% of the businesses in the country are been moved abroad which is affecting the country’s GDP and output bringing about the fall in some sectors of the economy.
“The low implementation and push towards the growth of the IT sector has affected the activities of the sector and there is need to boost the sector simply because of its contributions to the Nations GDP.
Adejumo said that Nigeria is the most important economy to the world due to the vast population and the potentials embedded in the citizens towards achieving goals and objectives.
We need to boost the skills of our citizens which will bring out the potentials embedded in them towards the growth of the country.
NITRA Innovative Forum is annual Information and Communication Technology roundtable organised by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA).
The flagship event, which started in 2018, takes different sub themes each year to address the needs of the industry and set a pace for development.
This year, NITRA sees an enormous opportunity to ICT development and growth despite the COVID-19 scourge.
The event will seek to discuss the level of preparedness of ICT stakeholders to embrace the challenge of being pivotal to the stability and growth of all other sectors, during and after the pandemic.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that Nigeria’s internet usage reached a record 1.24 million terabytes in November 2025.
According to the latest data from the NCC, the figure rose modestly from 1.235 million terabytes in October, reflecting steady growth in digital activity across the country.
Broadband penetration in Nigeria crossed the halfway mark in November 2025, reaching 50.58 per cent, up from 45.61 per cent in January, the telecoms regulator reported.
The figure, however, falls short of the 70 per cent coverage target outlined in the National Broadband Plan 2020–2025, which expires this month.
The country had roughly 109 million broadband subscriptions by November. Growth has been uneven, hindered by infrastructure and regulatory constraints, including frequent fibre-optic vandalism that triggers 30 to 43 network cuts daily, high right-of-way fees, and declining subscriber numbers earlier in the year.
Expansion of mobile networks, particularly 3G and 4G services, alongside limited 5G rollouts in urban centres, affordable smartphones, and competitive data plans, has driven uptake.
Investments in the National Communications Backbone and private-sector initiatives have also improved access, especially in underserved areas.
While Nigeria is gradually improving digital inclusion, achieving the original broadband plan remains challenging due to high infrastructure costs, coverage limitations, and deployment hurdles.
The NCC maintains that continued investment in mobile networks and broadband infrastructure will sustain gradual growth in the sector.
Commenting on the development, some Nigerian analysts attributed the surge to the broader mobile and broadband adoption and the growing appetite for streaming, online learning and other digital services.
According to the analysts, the figures suggest that internet connectivity is no longer a luxury but a necessity for both business and leisure, underscoring the slow but steady expansion of Nigeria’s digital economy.
Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) has named the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) among the top three Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government with the Best Ranking in Website Performance for 2025.
L-R: Head Special Projects, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Salamatu Andu; Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Engr. Abaraham Oshadame; Director General Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Head Customer Support Service, Galaxy Backbone, Rosemary Ehize; Secretary to the ES. Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Tahir Aminu at the BPSR award ceremony for top four MDAs in BPSR Website Performance and Ranking 2025 at the BPSR office on Tuesday, 23rd December, 2025.
This is coming barely three weeks after the telecom regulator was recognized as one of the top five best-performing Federal Government agencies for 2025 by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) – a testament to the Commission’s consistency in investment in technology for ensuring efficient service delivery.
In the BPSR 2024/2025 scorecard ranking of agencies’ websites, the NCC came second in the ranking, trailing behind Galaxy Backbone Limited, which came first while the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) clinched the third position, from a pool of 235 MDAs, whose website were evaluated.
BPSR deployed 14 evaluation criteria in include MDA’s website compliance with .gov.ng domain name, appearance and aesthetics (look and feel) of the website, content, relevance to MDAs mandate/government policy and the website’ structure.
Others include website’s responsiveness (device compatibility), security, load time, usability/ease of navigation, availability/uptime, functionality, interactivity, accessibility and capacity building.
The recognition was announced at the official release of Federal Government 2024/2025 Scorecard Ranking for MDAs’ Website held at the Federal Ministry of Finance Auditorium in Abuja on Monday (December 22, 2025) while the award presentation took place at BPSR’s Office on Tuesday (December 23, 2025).
The award, which is an important index metric of the National e-Government Masterplan for determining the Nigeria e-Government Status, was received by the Commission in recognition of its commitment to maintaining a world-class website that enhances service delivery to the citizens.
Receiving the award on behalf of the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, the NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Abraham Oshadami, appreciated the BPSR for the recognition, describing the award as “another encouragement for the Commission to be a better public service institution leveraging digital platforms such as our web presence to enhance public service delivery to our various stakeholders, thereby implementing the Federal Government’s Ease of Doing Business policy direction.”
While presenting the award to the NCC, alongside other two agencies, BPSR’s Director-General, Mr. Dasuki Arabi, commended the top three for their proactive decisions in maintaining world-class websites, which are compliant with the Federal Government’s policy direction in effective and efficient service delivery to the citizens.
According to the DG, the 2024/2025 MDA’s websites’ ranking represents a collective effort of federal public institutions in Nigeria to be transparent, accountable and open in governance, as well as a confirmation to align with global best practices in service delivery to the citizens.
Developed about six years ago, Arabi said as a result of the annual ranking, more public institutions have indicated readiness to embrace reforms, and align with the policy direction of the current administration’s Renewed Hope agenda on improve governance for effective service delivery, as introduced by His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The ideals of harnessing and deploying technological tools for service delivery has become imperative following the COVID pandemic, and distortions of socio-economic system of nations, culminating in the evolution of competitiveness, cost effectiveness, and agile governance.
“As engine room of governance, it behoves on us in the public service to perform our statutory duties and we must put in place technological innovations and standardized websites to operate services as well as deliver service needs to citizens,” he said.
The Scorecard exercise, he said, is part of the BPSR reform broader function of conducting research on reform implementation efforts and presenting ‘best practice’ models to the entire Public Service, and to among others, improve access to government information, facilitate seamless financial transaction, eliminate corruption and cyber theft, as well as facilitate access to government services.
Speaking on the rigorous nature of the exercise that produced the top three winners, the DG said “in the past few weeks members of the Scorecard Jury drawn from inter-Ministerial Agencies, had worked tirelessly to mill websites of selected MDAs through a rigorous process of enduring criteria for the ranking and the outcome had also passed through a quality assurance mechanism to validate the outcome.”
Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, has dismissed reports that bank accounts not linked to a Tax Identification Number (TIN) will be frozen or automatically debited from January 1, 2026.
Taiwo Oyedele
Oyedele described the claims as false and misleading, warning Nigerians against panic over misinformation surrounding recent tax and financial reforms.
In a post on his X handle Tuesday morning, he wrote: “Don’t let anyone manipulate you. Your bank account is safe. Misinformation makes you panic and fear a reform that is designed to help you.
“When they tell you that your account will be frozen or automatically debited from January 2026, ask them for the evidence in the new law. Be wise.”
He stressed that no provision in the new tax laws authorises the freezing of bank accounts, adding that the rumours are part of widespread misrepresentation of the reforms.
The committee chairman reiterated that the reforms are intended to simplify Nigeria’s tax system and ease the burden on ordinary citizens, not to impose punitive measures on bank customers.
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