National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) @ 20 Lessons as we look back to move forward in the context “Growth and Resilience."

Thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts, insights, and perspectives on NITDA @ 20 plus a few lessons learnt along the way.

I acknowledge and thank the following for the important contributions to this mainly historical record, namely Alhaji Ladi Ogunneye, Mr. Chris Uwaje, Mr. Tunde Ezichi, Dr. Chris Nwannenna, Professor G.M.M. Obi, and Dr. Vincent Olatunji among others.

For the record, I have many “brothers and sisters” in NITDA and the IT community thus I apologise in advance if your recollection of history differs and if I omit your name during these reminiscences.

Policy development.

1.       In mid-1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo declared IT a national priority[1] in response to the National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) process across Africa.

2.       In May 1999, the Information Technology [Industries] Association (ITAN) guided by Mr. Chris Uwaje, commenced the development of a proposed draft IT Policy, and submitted same, in August 1999, to His Royal Majesty (HRM) Chief Ebitimi Banigo, Minister, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology[2]. In November 1999 ITAN hosted a conference on IT Policy, in Abuja[3].

3.       In December 1999, Alhaji Ladi Ogunneye, President of the Computer Association of Nigeria (COAN), precursor to the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), constituted a committee chaired by Mr. Tunde Ezichi (Njoku). Members included Bishop Professor A.D. Akinde, Dr. Chris Nwannenna, Professor G.M.M. Obi; Late Dr. Mfon Amana; Demola Aladekomo; Kola Ogunlana, Professor Olayide Abass, OFR, who was the secretary. They held retreats in Ibadan in January 2000, and Lekki in early February 2000. The process produced a proposed draft IT Policy document, and their final report was submitted, in February 2000[4], to HRM Ebitimi Banigo the Minister, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.

4.       Key stakeholders who made contributions included Will Anyaegbunam; Chief O Ayodele; Professor Olu Longe; Dr. I.A. Odeyemi; Professor Nike Osofisan; and Deacon Ojinta Oji-Alala[5]. Other contributors to the IT policy development process included Dr. Jimson Olufuye; Dr. Bim Salako; Ibrahim Tizhe; Pius Okigbo jr.; Late Engr. Chijioke Simeon Agu; Sam Juwe; Jim Ovia; Professor Pat Utomi; Chief Don Etiebet; late Chief Tunji Odegbami and late Dr. Hafiz Wali. Professionals and organisations like Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPN) also submitted reports and proposed draft versions of the IT Policy document. Shortly thereafter a master plan for the development of a national ICT program “ICT 2000” was produced[6].

5.       By the end of 2000, the submissions were in the charge of Professor Turner Isoun, Minister, and Mrs. Pauline Tallen Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. All the submissions were carefully reviewed at a final drafting retreat in early January 2001 held at the offices of the Cooperative Information Network (COPINE), Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, with late Professor G.O. Ajayi as Chairman. Committee members included Professor S.A. Sanni, Chris Uwaje, Alexej von Radloff and Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola[7]. The output was the 2001 IT Policy draft that was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in March 2001. I vividly recollect that:

a.       I had to leave early on the last day due to the birth of my younger daughter who is now in University and whom the late Professor Ajayi called IT baby.

b.      During the deliberations of how NITDA was to be funded, late Professor Ajayi passionately believed that because President Obasanjo had declared IT a national priority then NITDA would be well funded. History showed that at the beginning this was not the case and NITDU/ NITDA struggled to survive without meaningful budget and great sacrifice by the first set of staff.

Lesson: An important takeaway for those who maybe fortunate to be involved in developing future policies, strategies, or roadmaps, NEVER assume money will be available, even for national priorities. Always ensure that well thought through funding mechanisms are in place or clearly articulated.

These policy related interventions did not happen in isolation and there are many unsung heroes and heroines who made the 2001 IT Policy and NITDA possible. As a nation we must find an appropriate way to thank them.

Establishment:

1.       NITDA and its fore runner National IT Development Unit (NITDU)[1], is the institutional mechanism to implement the National Information Technology (IT) Policy 2001 and subsequent revisions. NITDU, started its office by squatting with the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), which is an agency under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.

Lesson: If you are at the start of your professional life and squatting, appreciate that we must all start somewhere, even NITDA had to.

2.       The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the IT Policy and establishment of NITDA in March 2001 and NITDA was then established on the 18 April 2001.

3.       Subsequently, a NITDA Act Implementation Committee was constituted whose members included Professor Gabriel M.M. Obi, as Chairman, Dr. Moses O. Ubaru, Maxwell Kadiri esq (Barrister), Basil Udotai esq (Barrister), and Emmanuel Edet esq (Barrister).[2]

4.       Senator Professor Iya Abubakar sponsored National Information Technology Development Agency bill on behalf of the IT community. Senate Hearing on NITDA Bill took place in December 2005 while the hearing on Computer Professional Registration Council (CPN)/ National Computer Society (NCS) IT Bill held in March 2006[3].

5.       National Information Technology Development Agency Act, 2007 also established the National Information Technology Development Fund (NITDEF), managed by NITDA, that is financed by contributions from the private sector. This fund has in large measure ensured the growth and resilience of NITDA.

Vision and Mission:

1.       The Vision of the 2001 IT Policy was to make Nigeria an IT-capable country and a key player in the Information Society, using IT as the engine for sustainable development and global competitiveness[4].

Currently, NITDA’s Vision is “To proactively facilitate the development of Nigeria into a sustainable digital economy[5]”.

2.       The Mission of the 2001 IT Policy is to “Use IT” for Education, Creation of Wealth, Poverty Eradication, Job Creation and Global Competitiveness[6].

NITDA’s current Mission is “As an apex IT Agency, we create an enabling environment where Nigerians develop, adopt, and derive value from digital technology[7].”

Lesson: Though the 2001 IT Policy and NITDA Vision and Mission statements align, the Vision and Mission of NITDA seems to be narrower than that of the IT Policy, which raises question of who will fill the gaps?

Policy Review:

Efforts to review and refresh the 2001 National IT Policy which was envisaged to “expire” in 2005, and the development of related policy initiatives resulted in documents that were developed. However, these draft documents were subsequently NOT approved by FEC possibly due to contentious issues, concepts, and existing mandates. They include:

1.       2008, a committee was inaugurated to review and refresh the 2001 National IT Policy. Its membership consisted of Professor Adenike O. Osofisan; Engr. Sam Adeleke; Nurudeen Aderinto; A. N. Ahmed; Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola; Dr. Uwem Asomugha; Sola Fanawopo; Bashir A. Idris; late Ndukwe Kalu; Inye Kemabonta; Dr. Henry Nkemadu; Professor Gabriel M.M. Obi; Dr. Jimson Olufuye; Afolabi Salisu; Kayode Shobajo; late Simion Agwu; Frank Ugbodaga; Chris Uwaje; and Yinusa Zakari Ya’u. NITDA, through Professor Cleopas Officer Angaye, and Galaxy Backbone, through Gerald Ilukwe, provided logistics support. The committee received significant external intellectual contributions from Abubakar Kari; Christian C. Ekeigwe; Dele Olawore; Femi Oyesanya; Gbenga Sesan; Igrebo Eze; Dr. (Mrs.) Jummai Umar-Ajijola; Musa-Ali Baba; Nicol Woodard; Ms. Nnenna Nwakanma; Ms. Roslyn Docktor; Segun Olugbile; Tomi Davies; and Ms. Hadiza Zubairu-Gamawa[8]. The draft did not get traction and seemingly disappeared.

2.       2011, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communications Technology, set up an ad hoc committee to harmonise all the various ICT related policies such as Telecommunications, Broadcasting, Information Technology and Postal Services. Members includes Professor Raymond Akwule as Chair; Engineer (Mrs.) Ngozi Ogujiofor; Alheri Saidu; Mrs. Yetunde Akinloye; Dr. Vincent Olatunji; Abdul-Karim Baba; Ayoola Oke; Dr. (Ms.) Abiodun Jagun and Ola Ogunneye[9]. A draft was produced but it seems the process stalled and has not yet recovered.

3.       2016, Abdur-Raheem Adebayo Shittu (Barrister), Minister of Communications initiated the drafting of Nigeria ICT Strategic Roadmap 2016-2019 hosted by Planning, Research and Statistics Department of the Federal Ministry of Communications with members including Hajiya (Mrs.) Nima Salman Mann (Barrister); Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola; David Ibhawoh; Kazeem Kolawole Raji; Najim Animashaun; Shuaib Afolabi Salisu; Dr. John C. Eweama; and Mrs. Bose Olaniyi; with records taken by Babatunde Onadipe. The committee was supported by inputs of representatives of Agencies under the Ministry.

4.       2016, Abdur-Raheem Adebayo Shittu (Barrister) Minister of Communications initiated the drafting of the Information and Communications Technology Sector Strategic Plan (ICTSSP) 2016-2020.

It will be helpful to document and fully understand why these policy documents were not approved so that the nation can learn, improve, and move forward. Documentation may exist, that the author is not privy to, that explains the reasons for their rejection. Despite this, the nation should be grateful to those that made significant efforts to move our IT Policy forward.

Lesson: We may have passed the IT and ICT policy stage and should now look at developing Digital Policies and Strategies for an Information Society that depends on Digital Economy but is much broader than the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS). This is because we must build an Information Society which encompasses in the digital realm Citizenship, Government, Safety, Security, Warfare and Democracy; Work, Organisations, Responsible Data usage, and Rights to Privacy; Health and Well-being; Teaching, Learning, Research, Innovation and Education; Economy, Culture, Mobility, Smart Cities, Intelligent Communities and Efficient Energy; and so on.

2001 – 2004, Late Professor. Gabriel Olalere Ajayi Director-General (DG), Father of getting NITDA established:

NITDA’s start was humble but there was commitment to make it work by leveraging the following implementation strategy:

1        Human Capacity Building

a.       2003, raising IT Awareness in the public service by training the Head of Service, Permanent Secretaries, and other top government officials, via Enterprise Technology Centre a PPP at the Federal Secretariat[1].

                   i.           From the beginning NITDA understood the imperatives of outsourcing, public private partnerships and multistakeholder decision making ecosystems in a nation that was emerging from prolonged military dictatorships where technology was often feared and considered to be a national security risk.

                  ii.           This was also impacted by the enlightenment of the political leadership by the 1919 African NICI and 2003 United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) processes.

2        Institutional Capacity Building:

a.       Securing, on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Technical and Administrative management of the Nigeria Top-Level Domain (TLD) name, “.ng”, that was being managed by Mr. Randy Bush- an American volunteer as the Technical Point of Contact and Mrs Ibukun Odusote as Administrative Point of Contact[2]. It was important to fully domesticate and institutionalise its ownership.

b.      2005, the introduction of e-government into the Nigerian public service that included the process for establishing IT departments and units across the public service[3].

c.       2003, the development of the National IT Strategic Action Plan (ICT4D) commenced in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and guided by Professor Clement Dzidonu from Ghana[4].

d.      2004, the National e-Government Strategies (NeGSt) Limited established as a SPV, chaired by the DG NITDA, to drive e-Government in Nigeria by developing a platform for establishing standards and creating strategies for the implementation of e-Government and encouraging the private sector to provide e-government services[5]. The partnership collapsed in part because NITDA was not a “legal” person at that time. Apparently, NeGSt still exists as a company managing the Nigerian Immigration Passport Issuance Services System and is said to be currently working on the e-Visa scheme.

3        Infrastructural Capacity Building.

a.       2002 – 2006, development and deployment of Public Service Network (PSNet)[6].

b.      2003, the establishment of the first set of Rural Internet Resource Centres (RIRCs).

c.       2002 – 2004, Mobile Internet Units which were locally manufactured buses retooled with 10 computers, Internet access and other peripherals[7] intended to take IT to the people.

d.      2003, the first licensing of Local Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

Note: Late Professor. Gabriel Olalere Ajayi, the pioneer DG of NITDA died in December 2004.

2005 – 2013, Professor. Cleopas Officer Angaye. Father of NITDA formalisation:

1.       NITDA Act of 2007, the cumulation of the process of enactment of the law that gave legal backing to the establishment of NITDA[1] as we know it today was concluded.

Lesson: NITDA survived grew from 2001 to 2007 without any enabling legislation or meaningful budget.

2.       Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Limited started, and NITDA was instrumental plus anchored the conversion of the shell of a Jigawa State “Galaxy” initiative into a company owned by the Federal Government in line with the 2001 IT Policy Chapter 2 on Infrastructure that mandated NITDA to “establish and develop a National Information Infrastructure (NII) ‘backbone’[2].”

Lesson: Some of us consider ourselves “grandfathers” of Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Limited and want to see it evolve, survive, and prosper.

3.       2005, the NEPAD e-School Initiative and the Computers for All Nigerians Initiative (CANI)[3]. CANI partnered with local OEMs to provide computers to Public Servants with an affordable monthly repayment plan.

4.       Drafted an IT Policy for the Public Service.

5.       2004, NITDA contributed to the Nigerian Cybercrime Working Group (NCWG) resulting in the preparation of the Cybercrime Bill 2015.

6.       2004, established Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERRT) unit.

7.       2005, finalised the establishment of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) as the institutional mechanism to manage “.ngTLD” as a PPP while practicing Multistakeholder principles.

8.       Rural Internet Technology Centres (RITCs) were deployed across the country.

9.       2009, Completed and published the ICT for Development (ICT4D) Plan in partnership with UNECA[4] and approved by the FEC.

10.    2010, SCAN-ICT also developed in partnership with UNECA was a project to give a “snapshot” of the ICT status of the country using selected metrics.

11.    The Standards and Guidelines Department was established in this period and the process of drafting Guidelines and Policies began.

12.    2010, NITDA Postgraduate Scholarship Programme began.

13.    NITDA as the Clearing House for Federal Government IT Projects commenced.

2014 to 2016, Mr. Peter Olu Jack. Father of Partnerships.

1.       Established the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to promote innovative indigenous ICT-based solutions.

2.       Established the Office for Nigerian Content Development in ICT (ONC) another SPV that focuses on fostering local content in the ICT sector including preparing a set of Guidelines for Local Content adoption.

3.       Public Access Venues and Rural Information Technology Centres (RITCs) were established in Nigerian Communities to bridge the digital divide.

4.       2015, deployed Knowledge Access Venues (KAVs)/ Virtual Libraries in Tertiary Institutions to provide information resources to students, lecturers, and researchers.

5.       Information Technology Development Entrepreneurship Accelerator (IDEA) Centres were established to incubate local start-ups.

6.       ICT Policy for States as a collaborative endeavour to encourage stated to adopt ICT as an engine of growth.

7.       Commenced full participation in the annual Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) and globally showcased promising Nigerian start-ups.

8.       Several Standards and Guidelines were developed, including Local content guidelines and policy in Nigeria; Framework for standards, guidelines, and policies on IT; Establishment of consumer complaint platform with dedicated website and lines where the public may report bad or substandard IT services or products; Guidelines on IT uses in schools; Standards for IT network security; e-Government interoperability framework; Guidelines for e-waste management; Compliance framework and implementation guidelines for Nigerian content development; Standards on IT infrastructures in built environment; Standards of IT infrastructures in public utilities; Standards on Computer Assembled Products; Implementation guidelines on IT uses in schools; Development of hologram and machine-readable barcode for IT products certification; Framework for NITDA IT Partner Ecosystem; Development of website security and certification program for Nigeria websites; Standards and guidelines for transactional web portal; and Framework Women & Youth.

2016-2019, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami. Father of Regulation.

1.       Fully activated Regulatory aspects of the Agency.

Lesson: These capabilities were incorporated in the NITDA act 2007 but not fully activated by previous administrations. Courage is needed to move forward.

2.       Published a Roadmap for Developing the ICT Sector consisting of Regulation; Capacity Building; Local Content Development; Job Creation; Government Digital Services; Cybersecurity; and Digital Inclusion.

3.       2017, Strengthened NITDA’s capacity to clear Government ICT Projects including a Standing Committee that reviews all the ICT Projects to ensure value for money, reduce duplication, and ensure sustainability and adherence to local content guidelines and regulations subsequently saving the Federal Government over N22.5 billion[1].

4.       Embarked on Capacity building programmes like Digital Literacy, Networking, Internet of Things, Cybersecurity, Software Testing and Big Data Analytics.

5.       The National Digital Literacy Council established.

6.       NITDA obtained ISO 27001 certification. The International Organization for Standardization/ International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/ IEC) 27001 is an international management standard on information security.

7.       OIIE commenced Start-up Friday events for the first-time outside Abuja and Lagos. The event has now been held in the North-Central, South-West, North-West, North-East and South-South Zones of Nigeria.

8.       A strengthened ONC now engages with local OEMs, software practitioners and the public sector organizations.

9.       Enforce and monitor the Executive Orders 3 and 5 which relate to the issue of Local Content Promotion.

10.    E-Government Digital Services and Regulations department created.

11.    Cybersecurity department created.

12.    ICT training for Persons Living With Disabilities in which participants were given laptops.

13.    January 2019, Published the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) which is a significant regulation for the IT ecosystem.

2020 - Date, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi. A new Generation.

1.       Supplementary regulation in to strengthen NDPR.

2.       Innovative implementation of NDPR lead directly to seventy (72)[1] Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs) being licenced; 2,700 jobs created; and a N2.5 billion data security industry[2] being established. Examples of roles and activities which have now been created include:

a.       Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs) carry out to data protection audits and file a report with NITDA. They also monitor, audit, conduct training and provided data protection compliance consulting to all Data Controllers in Nigeria. Not only has this nascent industry been growing it is also furthering the implementation and survival of the regulation by evolving NDPR in into legislation.

b.      Data Protection Officers (DPO’s) are responsible for overseeing a company's data protection strategy and its implementation to ensure compliance with NDPR requirements.

c.       The data controller determines the purposes for which and how personal data is processed.

d.      Data processor processes any data that the data controller gives them.

Lesson: This is an implementation model that that cost effectively replicates the regulator is one that other regulators should look closely at and emulate where reasonable.

3.       80 Digital Capacity Training Centres.

4.       National Adopted School for Smart Education (NASSE) commenced.

5.       NITDA Roadmap 2021 to 2024.

6.       National Adopted School initiative.

7.       National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) initiative. So far 145 farmers have learnt to utilize technology to improve farm yields.

8.       Future-Hack, innovation contest - participants receive funding and mentorship to develop marketable products and services.

9.       Capacity building programmes including but not limited to NITDA Academy; Over 650 artisans; ICT for 200 women; IT Innovation and Incubation Parks; Community IT Training Centres; Virtual Start-up Clinic - young people to meet with mentors; Massive Online Open Courses initiative for Nigeria’s tertiary institutions; and Local Content Promotion - Chiniki Guard won 10,000 USD @GITEX 2019.

10.    Development and implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) – This was a multi-Agency collaborative endeavour with the following pillars: Developmental Regulation; Digital Literacy & Skills; Solid Infrastructure; Service Infrastructure; Digital Services Development & Promotion; Soft Infrastructure; Digital Society & Emerging Technologies; and Indigenous Content Development & Adoption.

People whose roles have been central to ensuring the continuity of NITDA’s Growth and Resilience because they acted as NITDA’s Director General when called upon include Dr. Moses Ubaru; late Dr. Ashiru Sani Daura, an incredibly honest and good man, whose death on Friday 23 April 2021 is a profound loss to this nation - May the Almighty rest is soul and grant Paradise as his final abode; and our indefatigable Dr. Vincent Olatunji. On behalf of a grateful nation and technology community I say Thank You for your often unrecognized Service, may the Almighty reward you all abundantly.

NITDA is a family, and even the best of families passes through challenging times and good phases. However, please appreciate than NITDA exists to move Nigeria and by extension Africa into the digital realm. The scope of what remains to be done is bigger that what any of us can achieve alone. Together, we can move our society toward making Nigeria an IT-capable country and a key player in the Information Society, using IT as the engine for sustainable development and global competitiveness.

In addition to the family members who contributed to the various policies and legislation, the first 10 Staff of NITDA of the NITDA family include Professor Gabriel Olalere Ajayi; Dr. Moses O. Ubaru; J.O. Abu; Umar E. Ibrahim (the only remaining first team member); Pere S. Isari; Alex von Radlof; Ms. Dolapo Fasiku; David Ajayi; Teldir Bature; and Ms. Scholastica Katangu. While the first set of Youth Corps members assigned to NITDA included Ben Eze; Joseph Okegwaele; late Arnold; and Tunji Obakeye.

Permit me to mention the following NITDA Family members, out of respect and admiration, Senior Emeka Hezekiah Ezekwesili, whom I have him known since 1974 (47 years) as my “Pro-Unitate” senior who gave me a gentle introduction to life in boarding school; Olayinka Adejube, whose kindness and generosity knows no bounds; Barrister Inye Kemabonta, a respectable man of intellect and panache; Dr. Idris Muhammad Yelwa, a brother in the true sense of the word; and Barrister Emmanuel Edet, a person who respects truth.

Note: I apologize if I did not mention “you” because the family is large, please know you are included.

Impact

NITDA has made significant impact in the areas of:

1.       Increased ICT awareness, especially in the public sector. This is responsible for the improved deployment of ICT in the public sector and the establishment of an IT cadre and associated Departments/ Units across the Federal Public Service.

2.       Job and wealth creation has increased as observe by the rise of a generation of solutions developers, providers and ICT based start-ups nationwide.

3.       In tandem with its sister organisations under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMoCDE), NITDA has supported the significant levels of Internet penetration and utilisation in Nigeria.

4.       Youth Empowerment through various human capacity building, institutional, and infrastructural interventions nationwide.

5.       Improved contribution of IT to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

6.       The NITDA Clearing House has, as earlier observed, saved the Federal Government over N22.5billion thus far.

Lesson: NITDA is urged to work with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to compile and publish details of these important statistics because if you do not take charge of your narrative the wrong narrative maybe propagated.

Challenges

However, there remains challenges and contentious issues like:

1.       The concepts of Information Technology (IT) and Information Communications Technologies (ICT). IT is defined as “The art and applied sciences that deal with data and information. Examples are capture, representation, processing, security, transfer, interchange, presentation, management, organization, storage, and retrieval of data and information.[1]” However, Nigeria effectively runs IT and Communications (C) as separate policy, regulatory and sectoral development tracks. Arguably, modern communications systems are “software” driven, and in this era of technology convergence, there is no “IT” without “C” nor “C” without “IT.”

2.       The exact jurisdictional boundaries of NITDA (advancing the use of IT), and agency of the FMoCDE and the Computer Professionals Registration Council (CPN) of Nigeria (advancing the knowledge of IT i.e., the profession like the old City and Guilds certifications and qualifications) under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Education. Such apparent overlaps and duplications need to be comprehensively harmonised and completely resolved.

3.       The management of our spectrum resources remains spread across FMoCDE and Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and their designated regulatory Agencies which may not be the most efficient management model and needs to be reviewed. This is relevant to NITDA as multimedia convergence increases and efficient and optimal utilisation of communications spectrum impacts the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Quantum Computing amongst other ongoing developments.

4.       Funding, despite the establishment of NITDEF, the magnitude, scale, and scope of the task before NITDA is daunting and thus our society needs to appreciate that enhanced investments in indigenous cyber skills talent, related technologies and requisite research, development and innovation is the only guarantor of improved human wellbeing and enhanced global status for the nation and its people. To avoid a technological future dictated by outside and possibly hostile nations, it is imperative that Nigeria invests in developing a full spectrum of indigenous talent pool, sovereign technologies, and collaborate with local, regional, and international partners to establish standards, and foster market conditions that ensure innovation and diversity of supply while building robust IT related capacities including cyber defences.

5.       Recruitment and retention of requisite professionals remains difficult for NITDA as the pay and related incentive structures of the public service environment are not competitive. NITDA should where feasible spin-off and delegate its functions and responsibilities to PPP, SPV’s and evolve new economic sectors that can be more efficiently and competitively operated beyond the vagaries of government budget availability, with NITDA retaining partial ownership on a case-by-case basis. Examples of this include NiRA, OIIE, ONC and NDPR implementation. NITDA should be seen, as a champion, “regulator”, and practitioner of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and not try to do everything itself.

6.       Flaws in “Nigeria’s” policy development process: Beyond the IT Policy, we erroneously believe that Nigeria develops great policies and plans but that our weakness is only in the implementation. A policy is inherently a statement of intent, while a strategy is the plan for achieving the policy intentions with deliverables, responsibilities, rational outcomes, Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and other performance metrics. My experience is that many seemingly professionally written policies, strategies, and plans are severely flawed. For example:

a.       The intended outcome of a policy and strategy is that it is implemented in the best interest of stakeholders and the nation. For this to happen:

                   i.           Stakeholders must feel involved in the development process.

                  ii.           The document must be understood. To be understood it must be read. To be read it must be short, direct, and easy to read. If you subject many Policy documents to the Flesch Reading Ease Formula, and Flesch-Kincaid Grade level Grade Conversion, freely available in Microsoft Word, you will be horrified at the results.

                 iii.           Too many policies are written in convoluted arcane formats, incredibly dull and bland. Such documents must be simple, as often political, and strategic policy makers do not understand the nuances and technicalities of the subject matter and many technocrats lack the necessary know-how to address these challenges, nor do they have the power to do so even if they knew what to do.

                 iv.           Policy documents are often wrongly targeted. The drafters often target senior policy makers who have attended prestigious policy development institutions and not the middle level public servants, who may not yet have attended such courses, that must take extracts from the policy document as use them to design implementable projects that actualise the policy.

                  v.           Policies are often developed in plush city offices by people who do not understand, have insight or empathy for the stakeholders in the “trenches” who need the positive impact of the policy.

b.      Many policy documents that we generate, like the 2001 IT Policy are:

                   i.           Clear on what they set out to achieve (objectives).

                  ii.           Weak on “why” such imperatives are necessary. This includes the belief system and national philosophy and ethos, which arguably our society has not agreed upon.

                 iii.           The strategic implementation component is often very weak with insufficient clarity on what exactly the deliverables are, who has primary and secondary responsibility for the deliverables; describing of the expected rational outcomes; detailing the Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and other performance metrics. That said planning in Nigeria is difficult but plan we must, regardless of the uncertainties and lack of credible and detailed statistics.

                 iv.           Such details are usually not easy decisions to make and are fraught with intricacies and sometimes intrigue given they are often encased in “political” ramifications that the drafters, especially public servants prefer to avoid because it might negatively impact their career progression.

c.       We must appreciate that much of Nigeria’s IT challenge is NOT just the last mile connectivity but, in the last 6 inches i.e., from screen to eyes/ brain especially the human and software interfaces which is under NITDA’s purview.

d.      Drafters of our policy documents are usually placed under unnecessary time pressure. Policy development process are often rushed at the last moment despite the initiative getting stalled for many months, for no apparent reason, within the public service bureaucracy. More thoughtfulness and empathy from the political masters is warranted because policies and strategies have significant implications on the direction and success of the nation and the wellbeing of its people to whom we own a duty of care and full responsibility.

Lesson: The nation may wish to engage in national conversations about reviewing our policy models with a view to eventually taking a wholistic Information Society and Digital Multimedia approach to our policy, regulatory, resource management and related sectoral development process. As we have seen in nations like Malaysia, a sound Multimedia (ICT) super regulator effectively compliments a good ICT super Developmental Agency and Cybersecurity Agency to cost effectively drive the development of a trusted, broad-based, and prosperous Information Society.

7.       Ultimately, the level of awareness of political leaders toward technology in general and NITDA needs to be improved. NITDA needs to work with its sister organisations and stakeholders to raise the awareness of the political class and demonstrate that investing in people and technology is good politics, because a happy electorate will support the political establishment.

Way Forward

NITDA’s continued Growth and Resilience is vital to Nigeria’s digital survivability. NITDA has had its share of successes and difficulties, great highs, and a few abysmal lows. However, consistency, principled flexibility with efficiency is essential to the sectors growth and resilience/ survivability and relevance.

NITDA operates at the heart of a fast-moving sector and it must endeavour to keep replicating itself, optimise and leverage on the private sector through Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV’s), Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP’s) and evolving new sub-sector while cutting down its staff size and overheads i.e., costs to survive and have the desired impact.

The imperatives of “Using IT” for Education, Creation of Wealth, Poverty Eradication, Job Creation and Global Competitiveness can only be achieved if NITDA’s management earns the trust of colleagues, industry, and society, and it is important that colleagues, industry, and society believe and have faith in NITDA’s management.

There is no area of Information Technology (IT) that is not important. However, NITDA should consider focusing (re-focusing) on:

1.       Building human capacity - long-term investment is needed at the Primary level and leveraging students as Ambassadors of Technology.

2.       We must continually build self-sustaining ecosystems with the awareness that accredited people are the basis of start-up economy while leveraging Public-Private-Partnerships where possible and practical. And further appreciating that Multistakeholder consultation and decision-making processes work in the best long-term interest of all.

3.       IT presents a societal Opportunity to generate Wealth, create Jobs and as a by-product Generate Revenue in the form of taxes for government with the understanding that Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME’s) produce more jobs than any other segment, and thus we must first focus on empowering and multiplying MSME’s.

4.       It is imperative that we get our Women and youth into IT and evolve them into Power Players. No Society/ Economy can make significant headway if it does not leverage 50% of its population (Women) and stifles another 47% (Male Youth) of its population. IT permits women to work from home in culturally conservative environments or situations when going out to work is not convenient such as pandemics, while raising a young family or during challenging social, security and economic situations.

5.       We need to firmly and fairly regulate but we must be careful not to overregulate.

Lesson: In our policies, plans and decision-making processes, we must always factor the underserved, unserved and unborn, because they are not here to make inputs, yet they must live with the consequences of our decisions.

The most profound single impact of 2001 IT Policy and NITDA has been the Rise and Well-being of the Digital Nigerian which includes the IT ecosystem, and many who read this document. The Well-being of the Digital Nigerian is, and the evolution of an Information Society are, in my opinion, the reason why NITDA was created, continues to exist and is the basis of its value proposition. No other Agency was created with such a profound future looking mandate. To the Management, Staff, and all in the NITDA ecosystem, the future of Nigeria is literally in your hands.

However, there is much more to do because this journey towards getting all Nigerians to progressively use the digital realm, and achieving a fully integrated and just Information Society, has only just started. In this rapidly evolving ecosystem, we must strive to build a trusted, vibrant, and self-sustaining digital Nigeria that emerges as a global power player. However, it is clear that:

NITDA @ 20 is a legacy we can all be proud of!

The most profound single impact of 2001 IT Policy and NITDA has been the Rise and Well-being of the Digital Nigerian which includes the IT ecosystem, and many who read this document. The Well-being of the Digital Nigerian is, and the evolution of an Information Society are, in my opinion, the reason why NITDA was created, continues to exist and is the basis of its value proposition. No other Agency was created with such a profound future looking mandate. To the Management, Staff, and all in the NITDA ecosystem, the future of Nigeria is literally in your hands.

However, there is much more to do because this journey towards getting all Nigerians to progressively use the digital realm, and achieving a fully integrated and just Information Society, has only just started. In this rapidly evolving ecosystem, we must strive to build a trusted, vibrant, and self-sustaining digital Nigeria that emerges as a global power player. However, it is clear that:

NITDA @ 20 is a legacy we can all be proud of!

I wish you all well, protection of the almighty, good health, great family relationships and success for you and those you care about.

Thank you, for your attention.

Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola, fncs

Chair, Consultancy Support Services Limited, Abuja.

Ranked #1 IFSEC 2020 Global Cybersecurity professionals’ influencers and thought leaders list.

Chair, Nigerian National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy 2021 committee.

Chair, African Union Cyber Security Expert Group, Addis Ababa.

Chair, Working Group on Cyber Incident Management and Critical Information Protection of Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (#theGFCE), The Hague.

Commissioner, Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace (#GCSC), The Hague.

Expert, supporting United Nations Office on Disarmament Affairs (#UNODA) development of an online training course in “Cyberdiplomacy”, New York, USA.

Chair, Nigeria Computer Society, Cybersecurity Advisory Group.

Member, 2001 Nigeria National IT Policy Drafting Committee.

[email protected] | www.cs2.com.ng

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/aha01/ | www.facebook.com/CS2Nigeria | twitter.com/cs2Nigeria

Contact NITDA:

https://nitda.gov.ng/

Call: +2348168401851

[email protected]

Head office: No. 28, Port Harcourt Crescent, Off Gimbiya Street, P.M.B 564, Area 11 Garki, Abuja, Nigeria

https://facebook.com/nitdanig/

https://twitter.com/NITDANigeria

[1] American National Standard Dictionary of Information Technology (ANSDIT), ANSI X3.172-1996, American National Standards Institute, New York

[1] https://dataprotectionlawyer.ng/dpcos/

[2] NITDA

[1] Dr. Vincent Olatunji

[1] Mr. Tunde Ezichi

[2] National Policy For Information Technology (IT), 2001

[3] Mr. Tunde Ezichi

[4] Mr. Tunde Ezichi

[1] Mr. Tunde Ezichi

[2] Mr. Tunde Ezichi

[3] Mr. Tunde Ezichi

[4] Dr. Vincent Olatunji

[5] Mr. Tunde Ezichi

[6] Mr. Tunde Ezichi

[7] Mr. Tunde Ezichi

[1] Dr. Vincent Olatunji

[2] Professor GMM Obi

[3] Dr. Chris Nwannenna

[4] National Policy For Information Technology (IT), 2001

[5] NITDA website

[6] National Policy For Information Technology (IT), 2001

[7] NITDA website

[8] Professor GMM Obi

[9] Draft National ICT Policy, 2012

[1] National Policy For Information Technology (IT), 2001

[2] Chris Uwaje

[3] Dr. Jimson Olufuyi

[4] Alhaji Ladi Ogunneye

[5] Dr. Chris Nwannenna

[6] National Policy For Information Technology (IT), 2001

[7] Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola