NITDA outlines regulations for Nigeria’s ICT sector

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has outlined five new regulatory instruments for the improvement of the Information Communications and Technology (ICT) sector in Nigeria.

Speaking on the development, the Director-General of NITDA, Isa Ibrahim, disclosed this at the second quarter public presentation of the regulatory instruments on Friday in Abuja.

The first quarter of the regulation was launched on January 25.

The previous regulatory instruments are the Rule Making Process Regulation of NITDA; The Nigerian Data Protection Regulation; Guideline for IT Clearance; Guidelines for Public Internet Access and Framework for Use of Social Media in Public Institutions.

The regulatory instruments are expected to promote indigenous innovations. They will also address various challenges facing Nigeria towards effective ICT adoption.

“We believe that the regulatory roles should be geared towards development of ICT and its integration to implement socio – economic agenda of the government at all levels” he said.

Mr Ibrahim said the agency is building a strong foundation for ICT development, adoption and growth through effective regulations.

The new regulations are: Guidelines for Nigerian content development in information and communications technology as amended, Nigeria e- government interoperability framework (Ne-GIF), Nigeria ICT innovation and entrepreneurship vision (NIIEV), Nigeria cloud computing policy and Framework and guidelines for ICT adoption in tertiary institutions.

Below is a preview of the regulatory instruments:

Guidelines for Nigerian content development in information and communication technology (ICT), as amended

This was launched in 2013, based on changing realities, new opportunities are emerging. This is to be reviewed every five years.

The amended guidelines are focused on accelerating the development of indigenous skills,technology transfer and use of indigenous manpower and local manufacturing.

The focus areas are driving indigenous innovations,developing the local ICT industry and establishing intellectual property regulations and protection standards.

Nigeria e-government interoperability framework (Ne-GIF)

This provides tools specification and recommendations based on open standards for supporting public institutions in undertaking interoperability of e-government solutions.

Information exchange for the provision of digital services that require two or more public institutions.

This framework will pave way for deploying interoperable E-Government systems and integrated government digital services delivery.

Nigeria ICT innovation and entrepreneurship vision (NIIEV)

This is a compendium of policy recommendations and incentives designed to strengthen the Nigeria technology ecosystem.

It consists of digital infrastructure development, education reform, skills development as well as support for ICT entrepreneurship ecosystem innovation.

NITDA produced the NIIEV as a policy response to the aggregated demands of the tech ecosystem.

This will be implemented through the office for ICT innovation and entrepreneurship (OIIE) a subsidiary of NITDA.

Nigeria Cloud Computing Policy (NCCP)

The NCCP policy is a set of policy statements that articulate government’s strategic plan and direction for cloud computing adoption in the public sector and by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that provide ICT enabled services to the government.

This policy has a “cloud first” value proposition aimed at promoting cloud computing as a ” cloud first ” consideration for acquiring and deploying computing resources.

Effective adoption of this policy will lead to a reduction in IT deployment cost, job creation and other benefits.

Framework and Guidelines for ICT adoption in Tertiary Institutions

This will help provide a flexible and comprehensive general framework and guidelines for the deployment of ICT tools in Nigerian tertiary institutions.

This is for effective and efficient support of the core business processes of teaching , learning, research and administration.