The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has announced that the agency is finalising a framework to mandate the classification of data, ensuring that certain categories of data remain within Nigeria.
This move is aimed at driving cloud adoption, attracting investments, and strengthening the country’s digital sovereignty.
Inuwa disclosed this while speaking as a panellist at the Africa Hyperscalers Digital Infrastructure Outlook 2025 event, where he highlighted NITDA’s strategic plans to leverage innovative solutions and regulations to achieve the Presidential 8-point agenda, which spans various sectors of the economy.
According to him, the framework is expected to encourage more cloud service providers to invest in Nigeria while ensuring data security and sovereignty.
While speaking on the Artificial Intelligence revolution in Africa, the NITDA DG emphasized that Africa’s focus should shift to the application of AI in critical sectors rather than building Large Language Models (LLMs).
“The real power of AI lies in its application, not in building LLMs. We should focus on deploying AI in sectors like healthcare, agriculture, and financial services, where it can make an immediate impact,” Inuwa stated.
He revealed that NITDA has identified three key areas where AI can revolutionise governance and business operations: automating processes, enhancing regulatory efficiency, and developing knowledge management systems.
