The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has inaugurated a task force to oversee the implementation of Nigeria’s sovereign cloud initiative, as the Federal Government moves to strengthen digital independence, attract investment and retain technology talent in the country.
The initiative is also expected to deepen local participation in cloud infrastructure, improve the security of critical data and create new opportunities for Nigerian technology professionals.
Speaking at the inauguration in Abuja, the director-general of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, described the sovereign cloud initiative as a major reform capable of transforming virtually every sector of the Nigerian economy.
Inuwa said unlike reforms in sectors such as telecommunications and banking, digital transformation cuts across the entire 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.
According to him, the agency would also work with 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,” Inuwa said.
The NITDA boss disclosed that the agency planned to launch a portal by October containing a directory of certified cloud service providers, infrastructure providers, system integrators and aggregators.
He explained that the portal would enable banks and other regulated institutions to identify accredited technology providers for their cloud migration needs.
Inuwa buttressed the need for effective monitoring of cloud infrastructure to ensure that sovereign data remains hosted within Nigeria and that regulated institutions comply with applicable requirements.
He said the initiative would create jobs and enable Nigerian technology professionals to build careers and businesses locally, thereby helping to reduce the migration of skilled talent.
