By Angeline Mgbele, Bureau Chief, Northern Nigeria
In a bid to deepen institutional competence within Nigeria’s digital economy sector, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has hosted a one-day capacity-building workshop on Information Technology Contract Management for legal officers from parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE).
According to a press statement e-signed by the Director of Corporate Communications and Media Relations at NITDA, Hajia Hadiza Umar, the workshop, held in Abuja, FCT, north central Nigeria, was aimed at strengthening participants’ understanding of procurement procedures, negotiation techniques, compliance frameworks, and dispute resolution mechanisms in IT contracting.
Representing the Director-General of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the Director of Regulations and Compliance, Barrister Emmanuel Edet, emphasised the pivotal role IT contracts play in shaping governance and service delivery in the digital age.
“Digital transformation is no longer an ambition but a necessity. The agreements guiding technology adoption and deployment carry long-term consequences for Nigeria’s development,” Mallam Abdullahi stated.
“The contracts we negotiate, draft, and execute in the IT space must be technologically sound, legally robust, commercially fair, and strategically aligned with our institutional mandates,” Abdullahi added.
He urged participants to view the workshop not merely as a training exercise, but as a springboard for collaboration and institutional reform.
“Let this event be more than a training. It should be a prompt for collaboration, a forum for critical thinking, and a commencement for institutional reform. Engage actively, ask questions, challenge assumptions, and leave here not just informed, but empowered,” he said.
Participants, drawn from diverse professional backgrounds including law, technology, finance, and administration, were commended for their commitment to raising standards in public contracting. Their active engagement, according to the NITDA DG, reflects a shared dedication to transparency, efficiency, and innovation across government institutions.
The workshop also offered valuable opportunities for networking and peer learning, enabling officers to exchange experiences and propose solutions to common challenges in IT contract management. Many attendees described the training as timely, given the increasing complexity of technology agreements and the growing need for clear legal safeguards in Nigeria’s evolving digital landscape.
Through this initiative, NITDA has once again reaffirmed its leadership in driving Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda. The programme aligns with the Agency’s core mandate of capacity building, equipping legal officers with the expertise needed to guide their institutions towards sound and effective technology contracting practices. This proactive approach enhances institutional capabilities while promoting greater transparency and efficiency in public sector technology engagements.
The training is expected to strengthen institutional processes across ministries, departments, and agencies, thereby contributing to improved public service delivery and advancing Nigeria’s sustainable development goals.
