NITDA, Budget Office launch joint committee to drive Nigeria’s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Budget Office of the Federation have introduced a Joint Technical Committee to drive the implementation of Nigeria's National Sovereign Cloud Initiative. The committee, inaugurated on Thursday, will address fiscal, procurement, financing, and investment structures necessary for turning the policy into reality.

Tanimu Yakubu, Director-General of the Budget Office, serves as chairman, while NITDA's Kashifu Inuwa is co-chair. This shift from policy design to implementation brings together key institutions across various sectors under one coordinating platform. NITDA Director-General Inuwa emphasized the importance of a trusted domestic cloud and digital infrastructure to support government, regulated sectors, and critical national workloads while creating an environment for private-sector investment and innovation.

The committee will examine issues like government ICT and cloud expenditure, total cost of ownership, infrastructure utilization, budget and procurement alignment, infrastructure financing, investment mobilisation, and the fiscal implications of cloud adoption. The National Sovereign Cloud Initiative has advanced rapidly from policy development to implementation in August, with the Federal Government establishing regulatory and investment frameworks.

This joint committee marks another milestone in the process, with private-sector investment in domestic cloud and data centre infrastructure also increasing.