NITDA, BOF inaugurate committee on Nigeria’s sovereign cloud initiative
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NITDA, BOF inaugurate committee on Nigeria’s sovereign cloud initiative
By Alabidun Shuaib AbdulRahman
The National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA and the Budget Office of the Federation have inaugurated a Joint Technical Committee to address the fiscal, procurement, financing and investment considerations surrounding the implementation of the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative.
The committee, chaired by the Director-General of the BOF, Tanimu Yakubu, with the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, as co-chairman, comprises representatives of government institutions responsible for public finance, procurement, investment, connectivity, power and energy, cybersecurity and data governance, among others.
Declaring the committee inaugurated, Yakubu said the assignment was centred on addressing an increasingly important question of state capacity as government expenditure continued to rise amid growing dependence on digital infrastructure.
He said the committee would ensure that investments in government digital infrastructure were properly planned, prioritised and supervised to deliver efficiency and value for public resources.
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Yakubu said, “Our challenge is to ensure that these investments are properly planned, appropriately prioritised, fiscally sustainable, and capable of delivering greater value from public resources.”
He said the sovereign cloud initiative should help the government improve efficiency and resilience, reduce duplication, optimise existing capacity and make better-informed investment decisions.
The BOF boss, however, cautioned that the Federal Government did not have to finance or own every component of the country’s digital infrastructure ecosystem.
He advocated the mobilisation of private capital, competitive markets and credible long-term demand to complement government investment in the sector.
Yakubu noted that the implementation of a sovereign cloud was not solely a technology issue, stressing that it cut across public finance, budgeting, procurement, investment, power, connectivity, cybersecurity, data governance and regulation.
He said the involvement of several Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the committee reflected the interdependence of the different components of the initiative.
According to him, the committee’s work is expected to be practical, evidence-driven and result-oriented, with its performance measured through improved utilisation of existing assets, reduced duplication, stronger resilience, better value for public expenditure and increased private investment.
Speaking earlier, Inuwa described the inauguration of the committee as a significant step towards strengthening Nigeria’s digital sovereignty and giving the country greater control over its data and digital infrastructure.
The NITDA boss warned that excessive dependence on foreign digital infrastructure could leave Nigeria’s digital future in the hands of foreign companies.
He said, “Anything about the fourth industrial revolution relies on our digital infrastructure, connectivity, and computing power. Relying on foreign services for all this digital infrastructure means we are putting our future in the hands of these foreign companies.”
Inuwa said digital sovereignty was about building Nigeria’s capacity for digital self-determination, adding that the country needed to have greater control over its data, algorithms, artificial intelligence systems and digital transactions.
He disclosed that NITDA was working towards certifying cloud service and infrastructure providers that met Nigeria’s sovereign cloud standards, as well as system integrators that would support banks and government agencies in migrating their workloads.
The NITDA DG further said the initiative would introduce a cloud-first policy aimed at helping government agencies reduce operational costs and the burden of maintaining individual data centres.
He added that the committee would also help harmonise regulatory requirements across government agencies and create an environment capable of attracting private investment into the sector.
Also speaking, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, described the committee as a paradigm shift towards achieving value for money across the economy.
Adedokun said the initiative was aligned with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, assuring that the BPP was ready to strengthen compliance and support the success of the sovereign cloud initiative.
He said, “Our competitors are not sleeping. Nigeria cannot sleep. It is time for us to use our collective understanding, partnership, and collaboration to secure our nation digitally.”
The BPP boss stressed that maximising scarce resources through collaboration was critical to enabling Nigeria to compete with other global digital economies.
The inauguration of the JTC-NSCI underscores the Federal Government’s efforts to coordinate the fiscal, regulatory, infrastructure, investment and security components of the country’s sovereign cloud agenda.
The committee will also examine government ICT and cloud expenditure, total cost of ownership, utilisation of existing infrastructure, budget and procurement alignment, infrastructure financing, investment mobilisation and the fiscal implications of cloud adoption.
