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Tuesday, September 12, 2017

NITDA warns MDAs over IT projects without clearance

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has warned Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as other government establishments on the need to seek clearance from the agency before embarking on any Information Technology (IT) project, reports ITRealms.

Director General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), NITDA, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, who gave this warning in Abuja, cited Section 6 of the NITDA Act 2007, as well as Service-wide Circular from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation which makes the agency a clearing house for all IT procurement in the public sector.

He pointed out that the objectives of the clearance exercise include to ensure transparency in IT procurement by MDAs and other government establishments; alignment of IT projects/investments with MDAs and other government establishments’ mandates and functions as well as government IT shared vision and policy; and integration of IT systems and services to save costs, promote shared services, interoperability and improve efficiency.

In addition, he said, the objectives comprised that there is indigenous capacity for after-sales-service to sustain the project beyond the initial deployment; that the project promotes indigenous content and that preference is given to indigenous companies where capacity or the product or service exists; that the technology being implemented is up-to-date; and that the technology and services being procured are suitable for the country from the point of view of security and the environment, among others.

He emphasized that this will see to the realization of IT as a major driver and enabler of policies and national development plans; learning, knowledge and experience sharing on IT projects among MDAs; and the availability of accurate statistics on Federal Government’s IT assets and Investments to help government make informed IT decisions.


“The realization that government’s investments in IT over the years were not commensurate with the value derived from such investments and had also failed to evolve a digitally-enabled public service that will advance the citizens’ yearnings of digital economy made it necessary for strategic re-positioning of IT procurement in the public sector,” Pantami said.

Chuks Egbune with Doris Minimah/GEE
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