By Saminu Ibrahim
The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has called for a unified regulatory framework across Africa to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks, overlapping mandates and delays that discourage investment in digital infrastructure.
Inuwa made the call while speaking at a regulatory roundtable titled, “Regulations that Build: Aligning Policy and Digital Infrastructure Investment Priorities,” held during the ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 event.
He said investors needed governments to operate as a single, coordinated entity rather than through fragmented institutions with overlapping regulatory responsibilities.
According to him, better coordination among government agencies and the establishment of a single regulatory interface would reduce duplication, speed up licensing processes and provide investors with predictable timelines for entering the market.
Inuwa said the rapid convergence of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, cloud computing and high-density data centres, had made traditional sector-by-sector regulation inadequate.
He disclosed that NITDA was therefore adopting a horizontal regulatory framework that would provide broad standards which sector-specific regulators could build upon.
The NITDA boss cited Nigeria’s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative as an example, noting that the Central Bank of Nigeria had leveraged NITDA’s horizontal framework to issue a single circular for the financial sector.
He said the approach enabled banks to comply with digital stability requirements without seeking separate approvals from multiple government agencies.
On cross-border data transfers and regional digital markets, Inuwa advocated unified standards based on interoperability, trust and security.
He said standardised data classifications distinguishing sovereign in-country data from public and hybrid cloud assets would facilitate seamless data exchange while enabling African countries to recognise one another’s compliance standards without imposing redundant local procedures.
Addressing concerns that regulators often perceive technology companies mainly as sources of revenue, Inuwa said NITDA’s Regulatory Intelligence Framework was designed to promote business growth rather than revenue extraction.
He said the agency viewed regulation as a tool for shaping economic behaviour and creating an enabling environment for investment.
“NITDA does not charge for its regulations,” he said, adding that the agency’s focus was on creating markets, developing local capacity and attracting long-term investment.
Other members of the panel included Caroline Okafor, Legal Enforcement and Regulation, Nigeria Data Protection Commission; Tony Izuagbe Emoekpere, President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria; Mercy Ndegwa, Director, Public Policy, East and Horn of Africa/Economic Policy Lead, Africa, Meta; and Eng. Dennis Chepkwony, Director, Universal Service Fund, Communications Authority of Kenya.
