The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has inaugurated a taskforce to drive the implementation of Nigeria’s sovereign cloud initiative, with the agency describing the move as a critical step towards strengthening the country’s digital sovereignty, attracting investment, creating jobs and retaining technology talent.
Speaking at the inauguration in Abuja, the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, said the initiative represented an ecosystem-wide reform with the potential to transform critical sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Inuwa noted that, unlike previous reforms in sectors such as telecommunications and banking, digital transformation cuts across virtually every segment of the economy, including education, finance, healthcare, agriculture and manufacturing.
He said the taskforce would prioritise compliance with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) January 1 deadline for financial institutions, adding that NITDA would organise workshops to showcase compliant cloud solutions and build confidence among banks and other regulated institutions.
The NITDA boss also said the agency would work with relevant stakeholders to develop an end-to-end certification framework covering infrastructure providers, cloud service providers and system integrators involved in migrating financial institutions to compliant cloud environments.
“We want you to work with us to co-design how we can certify the infrastructure providers, the cloud service providers, and cloud educators. Because we need to certify end-to-end, from the infrastructure, the cloud services, and those who will go and help banks to migrate,” he said.
Inuwa disclosed that NITDA planned to launch a portal by October containing a directory of certified cloud service providers, infrastructure providers, system integrators and aggregators.
According to him, the portal would enable banks and other regulated institutions to identify and select accredited technology providers for their cloud migration needs.
He further stressed the need for effective monitoring and visibility across cloud infrastructure to ensure that sovereign data remains hosted within Nigeria and that regulated institutions comply with applicable requirements.
The NITDA director-general said the initiative would also create greater opportunities for Nigerian technology professionals by generating jobs and enabling skilled workers to build careers and businesses locally, thereby helping to stem the migration of technology talent.
CBN: Digital Stability Critical to Financial System
In her remarks, the Director of Payment System Policy at the CBN, Rakiya Yusuf, said digital stability was fundamental to the stability of the financial system.
Yusuf emphasised the importance of reliable and timely data for effective policy formulation and decision-making, stressing that the apex bank would continue to collaborate with NITDA and other stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the framework.
She described the sovereign cloud initiative as an important component of Nigeria’s broader economic transformation efforts.
Sovereign Cloud Policy to Attract FDI, Says Nnamani
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Medallion Data Centres Limited, Ikechukwu Nnamani, said the sovereign cloud policy had the potential to attract significant foreign direct investment into Nigeria’s data centre, connectivity and cloud infrastructure sectors.
Nnamani said the localisation of cloud infrastructure could also help reduce capital flight by keeping payments for cloud services within Nigeria while easing pressure on the naira.
He added that the initiative would generate employment, strengthen national security and improve the quality of digital services through reduced latency.
“We are beginning to see a lot of companies come to Nigeria to physically deploy and implement their cloud infrastructure locally. So that is going to drive in foreign direct investment into the country,” he said.
Nnamani further said the development would create opportunities for Nigerians to acquire skills in emerging technologies and contribute to employment generation, particularly among the country’s growing youthful population.
NITDA Moves from Guidelines to Implementation
Earlier, the Acting Director of NITDA’s Regulation and Compliance Department, Emmanuel Edet, said the inauguration marked the transition from the development of Nigeria’s cloud guidelines to their implementation.
Edet said the taskforce would provide a platform for regulators, government agencies and private-sector stakeholders to work together to strengthen Nigeria’s digital sovereignty and create an enabling environment for economic growth.
“We want to create a framework where regulators, stakeholders, private sector can actually work together to achieve a common goal which will eventually translate to other sectors of the economy,” he said.
He added that NITDA, as a pioneer agency in Nigeria’s digital ecosystem, remained committed to ensuring that the country fully harnessed the opportunities presented by the digital economy.
“We hope to continue in that stead to ensure that we achieve all what the potentials of a country as large as Nigeria can attain in the digital environment,” Edet said.
