NITDA Wants Unified Rules to Boost Tech Investment in Africa

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has asked for a unified way of regulating technology across Africa. This aims to cut down on red tape and make it easier for tech companies to invest.

NITDA believes that governments should not have separate rules for different agencies. This often causes delays and discourages investments in technology projects.

Kashifu Abdullahi, the Director-General of NITDA, made this statement during a session called, “Regulatory Roundtable: Regulation That Builds: Aligning Policy and Digital Infrastructure Investment Priorities,” at the ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 event in Nairobi, Kenya. NITDA shared the event's conclusions in a statement on Tuesday.

Abdullahi suggested creating a single point of contact for companies to deal with the government. This way, getting licenses would be faster, and investors would know better about project timelines.

He explained that new technologies like artificial intelligence, cloud services, and data centers need better regulations. Old ways of regulating are not enough anymore.

Mr Abdullahi mentioned that NITDA is leading a new approach called horizontal co-regulation. This means the agency will set broad technology standards that other regulators in specific sectors can use.

He gave an example with the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative (NSCI), saying that regulators like the Central Bank of Nigeria could follow these new standards in their areas.

In August, NITDA signed the NSCI documents. They called it a national plan for trusted cloud use, digital sovereignty, and cloud investment.

According to Mr Abdullahi, this co-regulation approach would create a smoother regulatory environment without needing one agency to control all tech sectors.

He also pushed for a common African framework for sharing data across borders. This should be based on interoperability, shared regulatory standards, and unified security measures.

He said having clear data categories would help with interoperability. Also, mutual recognition would build trust among regulators and businesses working in different African countries.

Besides better regulations, the NITDA DG said governments should rethink why they regulate technology.

He stated that regulations should not only focus on collecting money or strict enforcement. Instead, they should help create markets, develop local skills, and attract long-term investments.

“The ultimate objective of regulation must be market creation,” Mr Abdullahi said. He emphasized that technology businesses need enough space to grow.