{"id":4047,"date":"2026-09-08T19:02:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=4047"},"modified":"2026-09-08T19:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:04:30","slug":"nitdas-inuwa-in-kenya-champions-co-regulation-to-drive-digital-investments-at-itw-data-cloud-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=4047","title":{"rendered":"NITDA&#8217;s Inuwa in Kenya, champions co-regulation to drive digital investments at ITW Data Cloud Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>*<strong><em>Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, Director-General of Nigeria&#8217;s National Information Technology Development Agency, emphasise the investors seek a single, cohesive unit with a single regulatory interface, rather than a web of fragmented government institutions, to eliminate duplications, accelerate licensing approvals, and give businesses predictable timelines<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect<\/p>\n<p>Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, Director-General of Nigeria&#8217;s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has boldly pushed for a unified regulatory front to further drive digital investment on the African continent.<\/p>\n<p><em>ConsumerConnect<\/em> reports NITDA noted Inuwa harped on the continent&#8217;s push for the &#8220;one government, one interface&#8221; system, which might soon end instances of red tape, overlapping mandates, and regulatory delays for digital infrastructure investors across Africa&#8217;s ecosystem.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"cFN0MtTRJk\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=4015\">US Embassy speaks on relocation of \u2018routine visa services\u2019 from Abuja to Lagos<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cUS Embassy speaks on relocation of \u2018routine visa services\u2019 from Abuja to Lagos\u201d \u2014 Consumer Experience Is A Top Priority\" src=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=4015&amp;embed=true#?secret=7eULxUssc6#?secret=cFN0MtTRJk\" data-secret=\"cFN0MtTRJk\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Director-General of Nigeria&#8217;s IT sector regulatory agency stated this while speaking during the Regulatory Roundtable session on, \u201cRegulations that Builds: Aligning Policy and Digital Infrastructure Investment Priorities\u201d at the ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 event, held in Nairobi, Kenyan capital.<\/p>\n<p>He equally addressed the friction that foreign and domestic investors encounter when navigating multiple government agencies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Inuwa: Investors want government to act as single, cohesive unit <\/strong>NITDA said during the session, Inuwa also emphasised that investors would like to see the government act as a single, cohesive unit rather than a web of fragmented institutions.<\/p>\n<p>Inuwa explained that aligning government agencies internally with establish a single regulatory interface would eliminate duplications, accelerate licensing approvals, and give businesses predictable timelines when entering the market.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Impacts of emerging technologies on traditional regulations <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is noted that as emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Computing, and high-density data centres converge, traditional vertical regulations are no longer sufficient.<\/p>\n<p>However, in order to address this, NITDA is adopting horizontal regulatory framework\u2014broad standards that sector-specific watchdogs can build upon.<\/p>\n<p>Inuwa, in his submission at the forum, as well referenced Nigeria\u2019s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative as a prime example.<\/p>\n<p>He explained how the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) leveraged NITDA\u2019s horizontal framework to issue a single circular for the financial sector of the country&#8217;s economy.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the CBN&#8217;s approach allowed banks to comply with digital stability rules without needing to secure separate approvals from multiple agencies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The need for seamless data exchange, standards<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Expanding his vision to cross-border data transfers and regional markets, the NITDA Chief Executive advocated unified standards, based on interoperability, trust, and security.<\/p>\n<p>By establishing standardised data classifications that clearly separate sovereign in-country data from public or hybrid cloud assets, he stressed that African countries could facilitate seamless data exchange, and recognise one another&#8217;s compliance standards without redundant local procedures.<\/p>\n<p>Inuwa further tackled concerns that regulatory bodies view technology firms primarily as revenue sources.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The NITDA experience, by Director-General <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Director-General disclosed that NITDA has operated under a Regulatory Intelligence Framework designed to enable business growth rather than extract revenues. Viewing regulation as a tool to shape economic behaviour rather than a rigid rulebook, Inuwa restated that the Nigerian IT sector regulatory agency does not charge for its regulations.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, NITDA focuses on creating markets, building local capacity, and attracting long-term investment, stated he.<\/p>\n<p>Along with Inuwa on the panel in Nairobi were Caroline Okafor, Legal Enforcement and Regulation, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC); Tony Izuagbe Emoekpere, President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON); Mercy Ndegwa, Director, Public Policy, East &amp; Horn of Africa\/Economic Policy Lead, Africa, Meta; and Eng. Dennis Chepkwony, Director, Universal Service Fund, Communication Authority of Kenya.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, Director-General of Nigeria&#8217;s National Information Technology Development Agency, emphasise the investors seek a single, cohesive unit with a single regulatory interface,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, Director-General of NITDA, with Other Panelists (far left) in a Session at the ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 Event, in Nairobi, Kenyan Capital\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Photo: NITDA","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","_customify_content_layout":"","_customify_sidebar":"","_customify_page_header_display":"default","_customify_disable_header":"","_customify_disable_header_top":"","_customify_disable_header_main":"","_customify_disable_header_bottom":"","_customify_disable_page_title":"","_customify_disable_content_vertical_padding":"","_customify_disable_footer_top":"","_customify_disable_footer_main":"","_customify_disable_footer_bottom":"","_customify_breadcrumb_display":"","_customify_header_transparent_display":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights","category-infoeducation","category-markets"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Inuwa-and-Others-in-Kenya-cc.png",672,365,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Inuwa-and-Others-in-Kenya-cc-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Inuwa-and-Others-in-Kenya-cc-300x163.png",300,163,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Inuwa-and-Others-in-Kenya-cc.png",672,365,false],"large":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Inuwa-and-Others-in-Kenya-cc.png",672,365,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Inuwa-and-Others-in-Kenya-cc.png",672,365,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Inuwa-and-Others-in-Kenya-cc.png",672,365,false]},"author_info":{"info":["ConsumerConnect"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?cat=20\" rel=\"category\">Highlights<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?cat=3\" rel=\"category\">InfoEducation<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?cat=4\" rel=\"category\">Markets<\/a>","tag_info":"Markets","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4047"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4051,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4047\/revisions\/4051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}