Digital Nigeria: FG Approves Provision of Quality Assurance Certificates

Digital Nigeria: FG Approves Provision of Quality Assurance Certificates

TECHDIGEST – The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the Implementation of Strategies for the Enhancement of the Quality of Government Digital Technology Projects and Services during its meeting on the 9th of March, 2022.

This followed the presentation of a memo by Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.

A statement signed by Dr Femi Adeluyi, Technical Assistant (Research & Development) to the Minister, shows the approval will enable the implementation of strategies for the enforcement of the IT Project Clearance by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in accordance with the NITDA Act (2007), and under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.

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The implementation of the IT Project Clearance process is in alignment with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria, as well as the Nigeria Government Interoperability Framework and Nigeria Government Enterprise Architecture, among others. Furthermore, it provides many benefits for the country, including the following:

• IT projects are not unduly duplicated;
  the technology being implemented is up to date;
• ensuring that there is an indigenous capacity for after-sales-service to sustain the project beyond its initial deployment;
• supporting the integration of IT systems and services by Federal Public Institutions to save cost, reduce corruption, promote shared services, enable interoperability and improve efficiency;
• ensuring that the technology and services procured are suitable for the country from the point of view of security and the environment, among others; and
• the projects promote indigenous content, with preference being given to indigenous companies where capacity, product or service exists.

The implementation of the IT Projects Clearance process has already recorded tremendous success.

For example, in 2021, there was unprecedented total of 280 new applications for clearance, of which 258 projects were successfully cleared and a total savings of N24,403,266,842.86, estimated at 343.2% increase in savings compared to 2020.

Furthermore, there was also a significant increase in the use of the IT Clearance Portal in the year 2021- a total of 248 new users from 52 Federal Public Institutions (FPIs) were registered on the portal.

“The approval of Council will further enhance the benefits of the IT Clearance process. Council’s approval also mandates FPIs to obtain a Quality Assurance certificate from the NITDA Regulatory Instruments Enforcement Team for any project that is up to N1,000,000,000 (one billion naira).

“As part of the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), the Ministry will continue to position Nigeria to take advantage of emerging technologies in order to transform Nigeria into a sustainable and secure digital economy”, the statement reads.