NITDA Trains Legal Officers to Strengthen IT Contract Oversight
By Alabidun Shuaib AbdulRahman
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has trained legal officers from parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE) on Information Technology Contract Management, as part of efforts to boost transparency and efficiency in government technology projects.
The one-day workshop, held in Abuja, was designed to build participants’ capacity in procurement procedures, negotiation techniques, compliance standards, and dispute resolution in IT contracting.
Representing the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, the Director of Regulations and Compliance, Barrister Emmanuel Edet, said the training was crucial to strengthening the country’s digital governance framework.
He explained that IT contracts play a defining role in how Nigeria manages its digital transformation, adding that poor contract design or execution can lead to project failures and waste of public resources.
READ ALSO: DHQ Confirms Arrest of 16 Officers for Misconduct
“Digital transformation is no longer an ambition but a necessity. The agreements guiding technology adoption and deployment carry long-term consequences for Nigeria’s development,” Edet said.
He stressed that all IT contracts must be technologically sound, legally robust, commercially fair, and strategically aligned with institutional mandates.
The NITDA boss also urged participants to see the workshop as more than a training session, describing it as an opportunity to drive collaboration and institutional reform.
“Let this event be more than a training. It should be a prompt for collaboration, a forum for critical thinking, and a commencement for institutional reform. Engage actively, ask questions, challenge assumptions, and leave here not just informed, but empowered,” he added.
Participants drawn from law, technology, finance, and administration backgrounds were commended for their dedication to improving professionalism in public contracting.
The training also provided opportunities for peer learning, with officers sharing ideas and experiences on managing IT contracts and mitigating risks of non-compliance.
Many attendees described the exercise as timely, considering the increasing complexity of government technology agreements and the growing need for legal safeguards in the digital economy.
The initiative, according to NITDA, aligns with its core mandate of building institutional capacity and supporting Nigeria’s digital transformation drive.
By equipping legal officers with the knowledge to ensure fair and transparent contracting, NITDA said it hopes to reduce duplication, enhance accountability, and promote value-for-money practices across ministries, departments, and agencies.
The agency added that the effort also supports President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which prioritises innovation, digitalisation, and effective governance as key drivers of national development.
