NITDA calls for unified regulatory framework to boost tech Investment in Africa

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has called for a unified regulatory approach across Africa to reduce administrative bottlenecks and create a more predictable environment for technology investments.

The regulator said governments should move away from fragmented regulatory systems that require technology companies to obtain approvals from multiple agencies, arguing that such processes often delay projects and discourage investment.

NITDA’s Director-General, Kashifu Abdullahi, made the call while speaking at a session titled, “Regulatory Roundtable: Regulation That Builds: Aligning Policy and Digital Infrastructure Investment Priorities,” at the ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 event in Nairobi, Kenya. The event’s outcome was included in a statement by NITDA on Tuesday.

The NITDA chief advocated the establishment of a single regulatory interface through which companies can engage with the government, saying this would make licensing processes faster and provide investors with greater certainty over project timelines.

According to him, the convergence of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure and high-density data centres, has made traditional siloed regulation inadequate.

Mr Abdullahi said NITDA was therefore pioneering a model of horizontal co-regulation, under which the agency develops broad technology standards that can be adopted and adapted by sector-specific regulators.

He cited the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative (NSCI) as an example of such a framework, saying regulators such as the Central Bank of Nigeria could apply the relevant standards to their respective sectors.

In August, NITDA signed the NSCI documents, describing it as a comprehensive national framework for trusted cloud adoption, digital sovereignty, digital infrastructure assurance, and cloud investment.

The co-regulation approach, Mr Abdullahi said, would create a more coordinated regulatory environment without requiring a single agency to regulate complex technologies across all sectors.

Mr Abdullahi also called for a coordinated African framework for cross-border data exchange, anchored on interoperability, mutual recognition of regulatory standards and unified security protocols.

He said clear data classification would help achieve interoperability, while mutual recognition would build trust among regulators and businesses operating across different African markets.

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Beyond regulatory coordination, the NITDA DG said governments needed to rethink the fundamental purpose of technology regulation.

He argued that regulation should not primarily be viewed as a tool for revenue collection or rigid enforcement, but as an instrument for creating markets, building local capacity and attracting long-term investment.

“The ultimate objective of regulation must be market creation,” Mr Abdullahi said, stressing the need to give technology businesses sufficient room to scale.