The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has intensified its campaign to unlock the vast revenue potential in IT project clearances across the Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). In a strategic push to align with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the agency is rallying key public financial institutions, including the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), the Auditor-General, and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), to adopt a unified, transparent approach to IT project oversight.
During recent courtesy visits to the heads of these MDAs, NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi underscored the urgent need to institutionalise due diligence and digital transparency in IT-related government expenditures.
Abdullahi revealed a startling statistic: 56 percent of IT projects in Nigeria fail to meet expectations, primarily due to inadequate planning, lack of synergy between MDAs, and the pursuit of uncontextualized technologies. According to him, this failure rate is not just a technical concern but a national development challenge.
“Most times, we chase after the latest technologies without considering whether they align with our business objectives,” Abdullahi stated. “We neglect critical steps like project design, sustainability planning, and alignment with existing infrastructure, which results in colossal waste of public funds and hampers the delivery of digital services to Nigerians.”
He further pointed out that many MDAs operate in silos, leading to fragmentation and duplication in service delivery. “Government is one entity,” he said. “If our systems don’t work together, citizens suffer from inefficiency. We must design and implement projects that promote interoperability and digital coherence.”
The NITDA boss noted that the agency’s push is not just about compliance but about creating a digital-first government capable of serving citizens more efficiently and transparently. He emphasized that collaboration among public institutions is vital in building an economy rooted in innovation and accountable governance.
“In line with the Renewed Hope Agenda, this is the time for us to be deliberate about digital transformation. We can no longer afford disjointed efforts. Our focus must be on sustainable innovation, cost-effectiveness, and citizen-centered delivery,” Abdullahi asserted.
Responding to the NITDA initiative, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Mr. Adebowale Adedokun, threw his agency’s weight behind the call for standardised IT project guidelines. He lamented that the lack of uniform bidding processes and regulatory loopholes has enabled unscrupulous practices within government contracting.
“It is disheartening that IT projects have become a channel for siphoning public funds,” Adedokun said. “With standardised documentation and a firm regulatory framework, we can block leakages and ensure value-for-money in every IT investment undertaken by government bodies.”
He noted that the new guidelines developed in partnership with NITDA will ensure that only projects that meet basic design, value, and integration criteria are approved, paving the way for a more resilient and innovation-driven public sector.
NITDA’s IT Projects Clearance initiative, first introduced in 2017, aims to assess and approve all IT projects by MDAs before implementation. This ensures alignment with national IT policies and eliminates duplication, waste, and fraud. The process not only safeguards public resources but also has the potential to generate substantial revenue for national development when properly enforced.
Experts estimate that if fully harnessed, IT project clearance can yield billions of naira annually, both through cost savings and improved service delivery. With increasing digitization across sectors, enforcing regulatory oversight in this space is becoming a critical component of national economic strategy.
As NITDA deepens its engagement with oversight agencies, stakeholders are hopeful that the collaborative approach will usher in a new era of accountability and efficiency in Nigeria’s public IT infrastructure. Civil society organisations and policy think tanks have also thrown their support behind the initiative, calling on the National Assembly to legislate digital transparency frameworks to give legal backing to the clearance regime.
With Nigeria positioning itself to become a leading digital economy in Africa, reforming IT project governance remains central to that ambition.