The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has called for a fundamental shift in how African governments regulate technology and digital infrastructure. He warned that regulatory delays, fragmented policies and overlapping requirements could hinder investment and slow the development of the continent’s digital economy, speaking at the ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 event in Nairobi, Kenya.
Inuwa made the call while speaking at the “Regulatory Roundtable: Regulation That Builds – Aligning Policy and Digital Infrastructure Investment Priorities” during the ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 event in Nairobi, Kenya. He stressed the need to reduce administrative barriers that often delay major technology projects and make it difficult for businesses to navigate multiple government agencies.
READ ALSO: KENYA REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AT ITW AFRICA
According to Inuwa, governments should work towards creating a unified regulatory interface through which technology companies can obtain the necessary approvals and licences more efficiently. Such an approach, he noted, would make regulatory processes faster while giving investors greater certainty and predictability when planning digital infrastructure projects.
He also highlighted the growing complexity created by the convergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure and high-density data centres. In his view, traditional regulatory models built around individual sectors and agencies are increasingly inadequate for technologies that operate across multiple industries.
To address this challenge, NITDA is promoting a model of horizontal co-regulation, where broad technology standards are established centrally and can then be adopted and adapted by sector-specific regulators. Inuwa cited the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative as an example of how broad technology standards could provide a foundation for regulators such as the Central Bank of Nigeria to develop requirements relevant to their respective sectors.
The proposed approach could create a more coordinated regulatory environment in which agencies work together rather than independently. This would help prevent situations where businesses have to deal with several overlapping regulatory requirements when deploying complex digital technologies.
Inuwa also looked beyond national borders, outlining a clear framework for cross-border data exchange in Africa anchored on three core pillars: interoperability through clear data classification, trust built on mutual recognition of regulatory standards, and unified security protocols.
Above all, Inuwa emphasised a shift in regulatory philosophy. NITDA’s approach is not about collecting revenue or enforcing rigid, punitive rulebooks. Instead, the ultimate objective of regulation must be market creation, building local capacity, attracting long-term investors, and giving tech businesses the freedom to scale.
The roundtable brought together stakeholders from government, industry and the technology sector, including Caroline Okafor of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission; Tony Izuagbe Emoekpere, President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria; Mercy Ndegwa, Director of Public Policy for East and Horn of Africa and Economic Policy Lead, Africa at Meta; and Eng. Dennis Chepkowny, Director of the Universal Service Fund at the Communications Authority of Kenya.
The discussions ultimately highlighted the need for African countries to develop more coordinated, predictable and investment-friendly regulatory systems as digital technologies become increasingly interconnected. By reducing regulatory friction and improving cooperation between agencies and countries, governments could create a stronger environment for investment in AI, cloud computing, data centres and other critical digital infrastructure across the continent.
