DNICE 2026: NITDA Launches Tech Outlook Report, Dashboard to Attract Digital Investments

DNICE 2026: NITDA Launches Tech Outlook Report, Dashboard to Attract Digital Investments

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has unveiled the Nigeria Tech Outlook Report and Dashboard to provide credible data on the country’s technology ecosystem, guide policy decisions and unlock investment opportunities in the digital economy.

The Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, launched the report on the sidelines of the Digital Nigeria International Conference and Exhibition (DNICE), describing it as a strategic intervention to address the shortage of reliable, locally generated data on Nigeria’s technology sector.

Abdullahi said the country had largely depended on data from the World Bank and other international institutions to make decisions about its technology industry, stressing the need to develop indigenous data systems that reflect Nigeria’s realities and support evidence-based policies.

He explained that NITDA had been collaborating with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to establish a comprehensive understanding of the sector, noting that reliable data was essential for effective regulation, investment planning and the creation of an enabling environment for innovation.

According to him, conventional methods of measuring the digital economy, which largely focus on the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), fail to capture the growing influence of technology across other sectors, including finance and the media.

He said a broader measurement framework was necessary to determine the actual contribution of technology to economic activities and identify emerging areas for innovation and investment.

Highlighting opportunities identified in the report, the NITDA chief pointed to significant investment gaps in healthcare, financial services and digital devices.

He disclosed that although more than 80 per cent of Nigerians had used telemedicine at some point, fewer than 20 per cent had actually accessed the service, describing the disparity as evidence of significant unmet demand and an opportunity for health technology investors.

In the financial services sector, Abdullahi said the report showed that while more than 80 per cent of Nigerian adults had bank accounts, fewer than 20 per cent had accessed digital credit.

He identified technology-driven solutions as critical to addressing the trust and information gaps that often prevent small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from accessing loans.

He explained that digital transaction records and business histories could provide financial institutions with better information about the activities, financial capacity and creditworthiness of small businesses, thereby improving access to financing.

The Director-General said the report was designed to give investors a clearer understanding of market potential, unmet consumer demand and underserved segments of the economy.

He added that access to such information would reduce the cost of preliminary market research, enable investors to identify viable opportunities and assess potential risks before committing capital.

Abdullahi announced that the Nigeria Tech Outlook Report would become an annual publication, with the second edition expected to be ready by June 1, 2027.

He assured stakeholders that NITDA would strengthen its collaboration with the NBS and other regulatory institutions to ensure regular data collection, sharing and timely updates.

The Agency, he further disclosed, plans to transform the report into an interactive digital portal where citizens, investors and other stakeholders can explore relevant information, provide feedback and suggest improvements.

“We are going to continue working with the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS). We also want to work with other regulators to ensure we exchange real-time data so we can always have an up-to-date portal for people to go and interact with. So, this is the reason we are doing this report, and we hope to hear more from you on how to improve it,” he said.

Also speaking, the Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, described the report as a significant intervention in addressing Nigeria’s longstanding technology data gap.

Adeniran said the publication provides, for the first time, a consolidated source of credible evidence on how individuals, households and institutions across the country access and utilise technology.

He noted that the report would establish a reliable foundation for measuring Nigeria’s digital development, while supporting informed decision-making by policymakers, investors and other stakeholders.

The Statistician-General welcomed the plan to update and expand the publication annually, emphasising that measuring technology’s contribution to the economy must extend beyond the performance of the ICT sector.

He disclosed that the NBS partnered with NITDA to conduct a special nationwide telephone survey using Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI), covering 2,147 households and 539 primary healthcare facilities across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

According to him, the exercise demonstrated the potential of digital tools to modernise official data collection and improve the production of reliable national statistics.

Adeniran reaffirmed the NBS’s commitment to sustaining its partnership with NITDA to generate credible data that would support national planning, policy formulation and sustainable economic development.