326 MDAs Spend N3.8trn On Tech Since June 2023

The director general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has disclosed that 326 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) spent more than N3.8 trillion on technology between June 2023 and the period covered by the government’s analysis.

Inuwa, while speaking during an Executive Regulatory Dialogue on National Sovereign Could Initiative (NSCI) and Data Localization Implementation in Lagos said consolidating part of the expenditure through cloud services could improve efficiency and accelerate digital service delivery across government institutions.

According to him, NITDA was working with the Budget Office to ensure that MDAs comply with the government’s data localisation framework, adding that a deadline would be established for public institutions.

Noting that the government could leverage cloud infrastructure to make better use of existing technology investments and improve the speed of digital service deployment, he said, “We have done our analysis from June 2023 to date. 326 MDAs spent over N3.8 trillion on technology. Most of this investment can be centralised and use cloud, which will make it easier and faster for MDAs also to deploy digital services.”

The disclosure comes as the government pushes to strengthen its control over digital infrastructure through the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative, which seeks to reduce dependence on infrastructure hosted outside Nigeria and protect essential digital services from external disruptions.

Inuwa said the initiative was driven by concerns about the implications of disruptions to critical digital infrastructure for the economy, particularly the financial system. “What will happen to our economy if, tomorrow, a major submarine cable disruption or geopolitical crisis prevents our banks from accessing critical digital infrastructure hosted outside our country.

Can our citizens still transfer money? Can businesses still receive payments? Can our banks keep processing transactions? Can our economy continue functioning?” he queried noting that the concerns go beyond technology to issues of national economic security, financial stability and digital sovereignty.

He said digital sovereignty was not about isolating Nigeria from global technology providers but building the domestic capacity to secure essential services, manage risks and participate meaningfully in the digital economy.

Inuwa said the financial sector was being prioritised because it was the most digitalised sector of the Nigerian economy, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) working alongside NITDA to prepare financial institutions for compliance with the January 1, 2027 payment data localisation deadline.

He noted that Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem had benefited from earlier policy decisions, citing the CBN’s cashless policy introduced in the early 2010s, which required financial institutions to upgrade their technology infrastructure.

He said the resulting investments helped create opportunities for fintech companies to develop solutions that have positioned Nigeria as a leading fintech market. According to him, the current directive represents another opportunity to strengthen domestic technology capacity while ensuring that the financial system remains resilient to external shocks.

Inuwa assured financial institutions that the technology needed to comply with the directive was available within the Nigerian technology ecosystem, adding that local providers, international technology companies and global cloud service providers could work together to support implementation.

He also said an assurance framework would guide compliance by drawing on existing international certifications while ensuring that deployed infrastructure met Nigeria’s sovereign architecture requirements.

The framework, he explained, could also provide room for national certifications, giving institutions more choices over the technology standards and providers they adopt. “We do not want you to get locked into a technology, a vendor, a country or geopolitics. We want, as a nation, to have the capacity to choose whatever we want to use,” he said.