NITDA, Budget Office Move to Cut Waste, Attract Investment With Sovereign Cloud

The Director General, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa flanked in group photograph with The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation in Nigeria is Mr. Tanimu Yakubu; The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) is Professor Ibrahim Adepoju Adeyanju; The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in Nigeria is Dr. Adebowale A. Adedokun and other member of the Joint Technical Committee- National Sovereignty Cloud Initiative after the JTC- NSCI meeting at the agency’s headquarters.

"The inauguration signals the Federal Government's determination to coordinate fiscal, regulatory, infrastructure, investment and security considerations in implementing Nigeria's sovereign cloud agenda."

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) have inaugurated a multi-agency technical committee to drive the implementation of Nigeria’s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative (NSCI), with a focus on reducing duplication, improving public-sector efficiency and attracting private investment into the digital infrastructure ecosystem.

The Joint Technical Committee of the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative (JTC-NSCI), chaired by the Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, with NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa, as co-chair, brings together institutions responsible for public finance, procurement, investment, connectivity, power, cybersecurity and data governance.

Inaugurating the committee, Yakubu said the initiative was critical to strengthening state capacity as government spending on digital infrastructure continues to increase.

He said the committee would ensure that investments in government digital infrastructure were properly planned, prioritised and fiscally sustainable, while delivering greater value for public resources.

Yakubu said the sovereign cloud initiative should help government improve efficiency and resilience, reduce duplication, optimise existing infrastructure and make better-informed investment decisions.

He, however, stressed that government should not seek to finance or own every component of the digital infrastructure ecosystem, advocating greater mobilisation of private capital, competitive markets and credible long-term demand.

According to him, sovereign cloud implementation goes beyond technology, requiring coordinated action across budgeting, procurement, investment, power, connectivity, cybersecurity, data governance and regulation.

He said the committee's performance would be measured by improved utilisation of existing assets, reduced duplication, stronger resilience, better value for public expenditure and increased private-sector investment.

Inuwa said the inauguration marked a defining step towards Nigeria's digital self-determination, warning that excessive dependence on foreign digital infrastructure could leave the country's digital future in the hands of foreign companies.

He said Nigeria needed to control its data, algorithms, artificial intelligence systems and digital transactions, stressing that the Fourth Industrial Revolution depended heavily on digital infrastructure, connectivity and computing power.

The NITDA boss disclosed that the agency was working towards certifying cloud service and infrastructure providers that meet Nigeria's sovereign cloud standards, as well as system integrators to support banks and government institutions in migrating their workloads.

He added that the initiative would introduce a cloud-first approach that could reduce agencies' operational costs and the burden of maintaining individual data centres, while harmonising regulatory requirements and attracting private investors.

Also speaking, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Dr Adebowale Adedokun, described the committee as a paradigm shift towards achieving value for money in public expenditure.

Adedokun said the initiative was aligned with the Public Procurement Act and pledged the BPP's support for stronger compliance to facilitate investment and growth in Nigeria's cloud industry.

The committee is expected to 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.

The inauguration signals the Federal Government's determination to coordinate fiscal, regulatory, infrastructure, investment and security considerations in implementing Nigeria's sovereign cloud agenda.