NITDA @25: A quarter century of engineering Nigeria’s digital destiny - Editorial@ITREALMS

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On Saturday, April 18, 2026, Nigeria quietly marked a defining moment in its digital evolution: twenty-five years since the establishment of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). More than an anniversary, this milestone is a referendum on vision, policy consistency, and the nation’s determination to chart its own course in an increasingly digitised world.

Established in 2001 to implement the Nigerian Information Technology Policy, NITDA began as a modest regulatory institution with an ambitious mandate. Today, it stands as a central pillar in Nigeria’s digital architecture; shaping frameworks, setting standards, and enabling ecosystems that now underpin governance, commerce, and innovation.

Nigeria’s telecom sector rakes in 8.83% to GDP

ITRealms:

Telecommunications sector contributed an estimated 8.83 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Nigeria, according to the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, reports ITRealms.

In his opening remarks at the Corporate Governance Forum hosted by the Commission at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja-Lagos, today, Prof. Danbatta, said that the liberalization of the telecommunications industry opened investment opportunities for both local and foreign companies, hence contributing significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He pointed out that though the economy regressed to -0.36 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, the telecommunications sector contributed in progressive and real terms, about 8.83 per cent to the GDP within the period under review.

This, he also said represents an increase of 0.5 per cent relative to the growth in the last quarter of 2015.

Similarly, EVC said, apart from attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in excess of $38 billion and reflating the economy, the telecoms value chain, either formal or informal, have continued to create significant number of job opportunities for the teaming youths in the country.

“Other positive spin-offs include increasing local content and rising income per capita/per head for employees in the sector,” he said, stressing that NCC would not rest on its oars as the Commission is committed to sustaining and building on the formidable structures established over the years for the industry to thrive beyond current generation.

NCC, he said, desires an industry that will grow bigger, better and be more relevant to successive generations, just as he underscored the fact that the essence of today’s meeting centres on sharing of thoughts and perspectives on how to meet the commitment to the principles of inter-generational equity in the sector.

In addition, he said, the meeting examines how this generation would leave a lasting legacy of a strong and virile industry, fit for bequest to future generations.

It is in this regard, Danbatta said, that NCC in 2012 set up a multi-stakeholder Corporate Governance Working Group (CGWG) with membership drawn from across the nation’s telecom industry, the Commission and corporate governance practitioners, with a mandate to determine the industry’s needs and the best approach to be adopted in addressing corporate governance issues thereof.

“The CGWG developed the Code of Corporate Governance for the telecoms industry, which was published in 2014,” Danbatta said.

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Pix: Prof. Danbatta and Prof. Fabian Ajogwu at forum.

FG to inject N350bn quarterly to revamp economy – Adeosun

ITRealms:

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun has said that the Federal Government (FG) would from this quarter inject the sum of N350 billion every quarter to revamp the economy, reports ITRealms.

"… We are going to pump N350 billion into the economy in this quarter and we are going to do so every quarter until we stimulate growth,” she said.

Adeosun also said that Nigerians will see growth if spending is on needs, reassuring “We will see growth if we spend money on those things that would create jobs.”

Speaking on Sunrise, a programme on Channels TV, Adeosun was quoted as saying that there is an economic team chaired and managed by the Vice President.

“I am a member. Others include the two ministers in the Budget and National Planning ministry, the Minister of Trade and Investment, the Minister of Information & Culture, Head of the Debt Management Office and the Director General of Budget, among others,” she said, insisting there is an economic team.

Adeosun explained that the current team is just a different structure from having a Coordinating Minister of the Economy (CME), recalling that under the CME system, Budget was under the Ministry of Finance.

“But Budget has now moved to National Planning," she declared, emphasing that the economic blueprint is very clear as they are determined to invest in capital projects to ensure that the economy is diversified.

“We have been talking about diversification since I was a child and we haven’t achieved that,” she said, adding the government is focused on revamping domestic production as part of efforts to diversify the economy.

Chuks Egbuna/GEE

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