The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has recommended that the Nigerian government streamline the regulatory roles of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to reduce overlapping regulations in the digital space.
The advice was highlighted in ITU’s report titled “Collaborative Regulation: Accelerating Nigeria’s Digital Transformation,” which was recently launched in Abuja.
The report identifies areas where the functions of NCC and NITDA overlap, including sector-specific ICT policy development, data protection, and content regulation.
The ITU emphasized the need for a clear delineation of roles between the two agencies, particularly as telecommunications, information technology, and ICT sectors increasingly converge.
The ITU also noted potential overlaps between NITDA’s mandate and those of other entities, such as the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).
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The report suggests that the NITDA Amendment Bill, currently before the National Assembly, should clarify NITDA’s role and mandate.
“The NITDA mandate in policy-making and regulation—whether it is a standards body, a regulatory authority, or a policy-making institution—is unclear, and stakeholders currently differ on what the role should be,” the report stated.
The ITU warned that without clear distinctions, there could be conflicts between NITDA and other sector regulators like NCC, potentially leading to forum shopping, duplication of roles, and additional licensing and fee burdens for ICT companies.
The NITDA Amendment Bill has sparked controversy within Nigeria’s ICT industry, with stakeholders arguing that it could grant NITDA excessive regulatory power.
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Organizations such as the Computer Professionals Council of Nigeria (CPN), Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), and Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) have criticized the bill, claiming it attempts to make NITDA a “super regulator” in the ICT sector.
Ayoola Oke, CEO of ICT Derivatives Ltd., argued that the original NITDA Act of 2007 was designed to promote ICT adoption across the nation, supporting infrastructure and connectivity in both private and public sectors.
Oke described the new NITDA bill as a reenactment rather than an amendment, seeking to shift the agency’s focus from business development and job creation to regulatory functions—roles that, he noted, are already being fulfilled by other existing agencies.