The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) says it will begin the implementation of the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and the Nigerian Data Exchange (NGDX) platforms in sectors of the economy in early 2026.

Salisu Kaka, director, e-government and digital economy of NITDA, said this at the public review of the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Live Event and the Nigerian Data Exchange (NGDX) drafts by stakeholders on Friday in Abuja.

The public review of both drafts had its theme as “Advancing Nigeria’s Digital Public Infrastructure through Standards, Data Exchange and e-Government Transformation.”

The event was aimed at harmonising inputs toward building secure, interoperable, inclusive systems for governance and service delivery.

Mr Kaka explained that the documents were released for public review in an attempt to ensure they were co-created and co-owned by the public.

“We should be able to have our use case to start dropping by the first quarter of next year.

“From now to the end of this 2025, we will be done with the implementation of all the establishment of the exchange platform, because that is the only missing thing.

“We have the identities, we have the payment platform and the exchange actions is hoping to come on board.

“Before the end of this year and by next year, we will be fully ready with the foundational element and we will start dropping the use cases across sectors,” Mr Kaka said.

He further said the federal government recognised the autonomy of sub-nationals, therefore called for their active involvement in developing the DPI and the NGDX.

“If the states can model and reflect what happens at the national, then we can have a 360 view of the whole data exchange across the country and we can drive all of government processes because we will be working with a common standard, regulations, regardless of the autonomy of the state.”

Gabriel Oladapo, director of digital transformation, Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST), said the DPI would also open the digital space toward harnessing the benefits of the digital economy.

Mr Oladapo said NIPOST had positioned itself and was replacing the old post office boxes with digital smart lockers.

“We are also engaging in this financial inclusivity by providing financial transactions in all post offices nationwide, whereby you can enter post offices and even perform any transaction, even for international remittances.

“The service is also working on rolling out digital post codes for Nigeria, where we can have national addressing systems and verification of addresses,” he said.

Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), said developing data exchange platforms required building it on trust, strong data privacy and protection.

Mr Olatunji, who was represented by Ibitayo Olufemi, director, Finance and Human Resources of NDPC, said, “Without this trust, even the most advanced infrastructure will fall short, as citizens will hesitate to engage, and the promise of an efficient, inclusive Nigeria will remain out of reach.”

He said that building a formidable data exchange platform should leverage the Nigeria Data Protection Act, as it established clear rights for data subjects, obligations for data controllers, processors and enforcement powers that gave meaning to accountability in the digital space.

Ikechukwu Amalu, deputy general manager, Nigeria Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), said satellites were a vital national digital infrastructure for achieving the DPI.

According to Mr Amalu, there are some areas in Nigeria today that are not being covered even by the terrestrial network; satellite communication can achieve that.

Participants at the event included state commissioners for ICT, representatives of ministries, departments and agencies, among others.

(NAN)