Repealing of NITDA’s ACT Necessary to Strengthen National Digital Economy Policy, Says Abdullahi

The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has said the planned repealing and re-enacting of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Act, 2007, is necessary in order to strengthen the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), which effectively replaced the Nigerian National

IT Policy, 2000.

President Mohammad Buhari in Abuja launched NDEPS last year in Abuja.

NITDA, in its efforts to ensure that Nigeria benefits maximally from the global digital economy, has drawn the attention of stakeholders in the Information Technology sector and the general public to its plan on how to commence the process of repealing and re-enacting the NITDA Act 2007.

According to Abdullahi, since the enactment of the NITDA Act 2007, NITDA had operated as the catalytic government agency for developing and regulating the Information Technology sector, and the Act had not been reviewed

“In the light of recent advancements in Information Technology and the paradigm shift in the global economy, the NDEPS was envisioned to transform Nigeria into a leading digital economy, providing quality life and digital economies for all. This current reality has necessitated the re-imagination for the establishment of NITDA. It is a known fact that digital technologies have created new forms of economic activities that have been beneficial to the global economy.

“However, these digital technologies comes with their promises and perils such as cybercrimes, privacy invasion and other social problems. This necessitates the need to proactively manage their adoption through the development of a stakeholder-led robust regulatory architecture to enable Nigeria to maximise the benefits of such technologies and mitigate the negative consequences, ”Abdullahi said.

He emphasised the need for a more agile and practical approach to regulations, standards-setting, and guidelines development for the country, with a focus on digital and emerging technologies.

According to him, “Based on the foregoing, we identified the need to update NITDA’s legal framework for regulating and developing a digital economy for Nigeria. The Agency’s current establishment law is outdated. It cannot meet the needs and requirements for supporting a digital economy as well as effectively protect the rights and interests of stakeholders in the digital world. The review of the NITDA Act 2007 aims to address contemporary digital issues,