NITDA seeks single regulatory window to boost digital investment in Africa
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NITDA seeks single regulatory window to boost digital investment in Africa
By Alabidun Shuaib AbdulRahman
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 overlapping mandates, regulatory delays and bureaucratic bottlenecks confronting digital infrastructure investors.
Inuwa made the call while speaking at a Regulatory Roundtable session titled, “Regulations that Builds: Aligning Policy and Digital Infrastructure Investment Priorities,” at the ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 event held in Nairobi, Kenya.
The NITDA boss said foreign and domestic investors were often forced to navigate multiple government agencies before securing approvals, describing the situation as a major impediment to investment and business growth.
He said governments must operate as a single, coordinated entity by creating a unified regulatory interface that would eliminate duplication of functions, accelerate licensing processes and provide investors with predictable timelines.
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According to him, investors are more interested in knowing that government agencies can work together seamlessly than in dealing with a fragmented regulatory system.
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 adopting a horizontal regulatory framework under which broad digital standards could serve as a foundation for sector-specific regulators.
The NITDA DG cited Nigeria’s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative as an example of how such an approach could reduce regulatory burdens.
He explained that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, leveraged NITDA’s horizontal framework to issue a single circular for the financial sector, enabling banks to comply with digital stability requirements without obtaining separate approvals from multiple government agencies.
Inuwa also advocated the adoption of unified standards for cross-border data transfers to facilitate digital trade and regional integration across Africa.
He said such standards should be built around interoperability, trust and security, with clear classifications distinguishing sovereign data hosted within a country from public and hybrid cloud assets.
The NITDA chief argued that harmonised standards would enable African countries to exchange data more seamlessly while recognising one another’s compliance requirements and avoiding unnecessary duplication of regulatory procedures.
He also dismissed concerns that regulatory agencies primarily regard technology companies as sources of revenue.
Inuwa said NITDA operated under a Regulatory Intelligence Framework designed to promote business growth and shape economic behaviour rather than impose unnecessary financial burdens on businesses.
He stressed that the agency did not charge businesses for its regulations, adding that its focus was on creating markets, developing local capacity and attracting sustainable, long-term investment into the digital economy.
Other members of the panel included the Legal Enforcement and Regulation representative of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Caroline Okafor; President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Tony Izuagbe Emoekpere; Director of Public Policy, East and Horn of Africa/Economic Policy Lead, Africa, Meta, Mercy Ndegwa; and Director, Universal Service Fund, Communications Authority of Kenya, Eng. Dennis Chepkwony.
