NITDA Inaugurates Technical Working Group to Deepen Regulatory Support for Digital Innovation
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has inaugurated a Technical Working Group (TWG) as part of efforts to strengthen regulatory collaboration and establish a coordinated sandbox framework to support innovation within Nigeria’s digital economy.
Speaking during the inauguration ceremony, the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, represented by the Acting Director of Regulation and Compliance, Barrister Emmanuel Edet, stressed the importance of stronger collaboration among regulatory institutions to address structural challenges slowing innovation across the country.
According to Inuwa, members of the Technical Working Group were carefully selected based on their strategic institutional responsibilities and their ability to contribute practical solutions suited to the realities of Nigeria’s rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.
He noted that although regulatory agencies operate within clearly defined mandates, the growing complexity of digital technologies now demands greater alignment and cooperation among institutions to ensure innovation is effectively supported rather than unintentionally constrained.
“As government institutions, our responsibility is to provide solutions to the challenges faced by Nigerians. The challenge is not a lack of commitment, but a structural issue. Regulators often work independently while implementing their mandates, and in today’s digital environment, that approach has clear limitations,” he said.
Inuwa observed that the rapid growth of the digital economy continues to outpace traditional regulatory systems, creating gaps capable of delaying or obstructing innovative solutions that could improve livelihoods and accelerate national development.
To bridge these gaps, he explained that NITDA is championing a multi-agency regulatory framework aimed at bringing regulators together to better understand overlapping responsibilities and jointly develop adaptive mechanisms that encourage innovation while ensuring effective oversight.
A major component of the initiative, according to him, is the adoption of regulatory sandboxes — controlled environments where innovators can safely test emerging technologies and digital solutions under the supervision of relevant regulatory authorities.
“Our guiding principle is learning by doing. Through these sandboxes, regulators can help create safe environments where innovation can be nurtured, tested, and scaled for the benefit of Nigerians,” he added.
He further clarified that the initiative is not intended to diminish or override the statutory powers of any regulatory agency, but rather to improve coordination and build a more responsive regulatory ecosystem capable of keeping pace with technological advancement.
Inuwa maintained that enhanced inter-agency collaboration is critical to ensuring Nigeria remains competitive within the global digital economy and fully leverages innovation as a driver of inclusive growth and national prosperity.
He expressed confidence that the Technical Working Group would provide a strategic platform for developing forward-looking regulatory solutions while advancing NITDA’s vision of positioning itself as an ecosystem orchestrator committed to digital transformation and sustainable national development.
Presenting an overview of the National Regulatory Sandbox initiative, the National Coordinator of the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), Victoria Fabunmi, said the framework is designed to provide innovators with a structured legal and multi-agency platform for testing emerging technologies before full market approval.
Fabunmi explained that despite significant advancements in sectors such as Artificial Intelligence, fintech, blockchain, and health technology, innovators still face major obstacles arising from fragmented regulations, siloed approval systems, and the absence of coordinated testing mechanisms.
She noted that while Nigeria’s digital economy continues to expand rapidly, the lack of harmonised regulatory engagement has often delayed innovation and created uncertainty for startups and technology-driven enterprises.
According to her, the National Regulatory Sandbox goes beyond being merely a digital platform, describing it instead as a governance and legal framework created to ensure innovation can thrive responsibly within a supportive regulatory environment.
Unlike conventional sandbox models commonly associated with financial services, Fabunmi stated that Nigeria’s framework is deliberately sector-agnostic, enabling regulators across sectors such as agriculture, digital health, mobility, clean energy, and digital public infrastructure to collaborate in supporting innovation.
Under the arrangement, startups and innovators will be able to engage multiple regulators simultaneously within a controlled testing environment, thereby reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks and shortening time-to-market for emerging solutions.
She added that the sandbox framework would also generate shared, evidence-based regulatory insights to help participating agencies make informed decisions collectively and design adaptive policies that encourage responsible innovation.
The inauguration of the Technical Working Group marks another milestone in NITDA’s efforts to build a more agile, collaborative, and innovation-friendly regulatory environment aligned with Nigeria’s ambition of becoming one of Africa’s leading digital economies.
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