From data to AI: Inside Nigeria’s leading blueprint for Africa’s digital sovereignty

At the heart of this transformation is the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), under the visionary leadership of its Director-General, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.

Since assuming office in 2019, Abdullahi has not only redefined Nigeria’s digital landscape but also ignited a ripple effect that is reshaping Africa’s approach to technology, innovation, and digital sovereignty.

When Abdullahi took over in 2019, NITDA’s mission was clear yet ambitious: to create a strategic roadmap to transform Nigeria into a globally competitive digital economy. The agency identified five key pillars: talent development, digital infrastructure, enabling policies, innovation ecosystems, and investment attraction.

“We started by creating an ecosystem,” Abdullahi told Business Insider Africa, emphasising that “no one succeeds in isolation.” The goal was to bridge the long-standing trust gap between government and innovators.

This cooperative model, once rare in African governance, is now being emulated by other countries seeking to build their innovation ecosystems.

In an era where data drives economies, NITDA has emerged as a continental pioneer. Nigeria’s Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), first introduced in 2019, has evolved into a national Data Protection Commission, with Abdullahi confirming that “many African countries are coming to learn how we’ve done that.”

Unlike many nations that view regulation as a constraint, Nigeria’s model promotes what Abdullahi calls “developmental regulation,” rules that create new markets, protect citizens, and stimulate innovation simultaneously.

With the signing of the Data Protection Bill into law in 2023, Nigeria became the first African country to institutionalise a comprehensive framework that balances innovation with privacy and sovereignty.

“We don’t want to be passive participants. We want to build sustainability around AI, ensuring that it serves humanity and strengthens our governance frameworks,” Abdullahi noted.

Nigeria’s vision for a tech-driven future is rooted in its people. NITDA’s National Digital Literacy Framework targets 95% digital literacy by 2030, an unprecedented goal on the continent.

With collaborations involving the Ministry of Education, Cisco Academy, and NYSC, over 23,000 public servants are already undergoing digital upskilling, while millions of students and informal sector workers are being trained annually.

“We understand that technology makes our lives better, but people make the technology better,” Abdullahi emphasised.

The approach, integrating digital skills from kindergarten to university, is transforming Nigeria into one of the largest digital talent hubs in Africa.

“Today, we don’t have sovereignty when it comes to digital. But our legacy goal is to build the infrastructure, talent, and cloud sovereignty that will make Nigeria and Africa self-reliant,” he admitted candidly.

This ambition, once seen as idealistic, now feels attainable. From the 90,000km fibre rollout under Project Bridge to the cloud-first and local content policies, Nigeria’s digital architecture is fast maturing into a continental benchmark.

If the continent’s next digital frontier has a compass, Nigeria is increasingly the one holding it.