NITDA has given government institutions, software developers and technology service providers until the second quarter of 2027 to comply with a new national software quality regime that will make independent testing and certification mandatory before government software can be deployed, in one of the most significant regulatory overhauls of Nigeria’s public sector technology ecosystem.

The enforcement timeline was announced as the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) unveiled the National Software Quality Assurance (SQA) Framework, a new regulatory framework that introduces mandatory third-party software testing, risk-based quality standards and licensing requirements for software testing organisations.

Signed by Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General of NITDA, under the authority of the NITDA Act 2007, the framework establishes national standards governing the design, development, testing and deployment of software across Federal Government institutions, regulated industries and Nigeria’s broader digital economy.

The agency said the phased implementation is intended to allow stakeholders sufficient time to prepare before enforcement begins in the second quarter of 2027.

A key provision of the framework requires all software projects developed for government institutions to undergo independent third-party testing and certification before they can be deployed.

Government software to require independent certification

A key provision of the framework requires all software projects…