The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has called for a unified regulatory approach across Africa to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks and create a more predictable environment for digital infrastructure investment.
Inuwa made the call while speaking at a Regulatory Roundtable on “Regulations that Builds: Aligning Policy and Digital Infrastructure Investment Priorities” during the ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 event in Nairobi, Kenya.
The NITDA boss said investors should not be forced to navigate a maze of government institutions with overlapping mandates, stressing the need for government agencies to operate as “one government, one interface” when dealing with businesses and investors.
According to him, internal alignment among regulatory agencies would eliminate duplication, accelerate licensing processes and provide investors with predictable timelines for entering and operating in the digital economy.
He noted that the rapid convergence of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, cloud computing and high-density data centres, had made traditional sector-by-sector regulation increasingly inadequate.
Inuwa explained that NITDA was therefore promoting a horizontal regulatory framework that establishes broad digital standards which sector-specific regulators can adopt and build upon.
He cited Nigeria’s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative as an example, noting that the Central Bank of Nigeria leveraged NITDA’s horizontal framework to issue a single circular for the financial sector. This, he said, enabled banks to comply with digital stability requirements without having to obtain separate approvals from multiple regulatory agencies.
The NITDA DG further advocated unified standards for cross-border data transfers and regional digital markets, saying African countries could facilitate seamless data exchange by building regulatory systems around interoperability, trust and security.
He called for clear and standardised data classifications capable of distinguishing sovereign in-country data from public and hybrid cloud assets, arguing that mutual recognition of compliance standards among African countries would reduce unnecessary regulatory procedures.
Addressing concerns that regulators often see technology companies primarily as sources of revenue, Inuwa said NITDA’s approach was focused on enabling business growth and attracting investment.
He explained that the agency operates under a Regulatory Intelligence Framework designed to use regulation as a tool for shaping economic behaviour, developing markets and building local capacity rather than imposing unnecessary financial burdens on businesses.
Inuwa also emphasised that NITDA does not charge for its regulations, stressing that the agency’s priority is to create an enabling environment for sustainable digital investment and innovation.
Other members of the panel included Caroline Okafor of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC); Tony Izuagbe Emoekpere, President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON); Mercy Ndegwa, Director of Public Policy, East & Horn of Africa and Economic Policy Lead, Africa, Meta; and Eng. Dennis Chepkwony, Director, Universal Service Fund, Communications Authority of Kenya.
