NITDA Audit Shows 90% Of Govt IT Projects Fail

More than 90 per cent of Information Technology projects embarked on by Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies end in failure, an audit conducted by the National Information Technology Development Agency has shown.

Director General of NITDA, Dr. Isa Ibrahim, disclosed this in a press statement made available to The Whistler in Abuja on Monday.

Ibrahim also disclosed that 95 per cent of the projects were compromised in terms of security.

Consequently, Ibrahim said, the IT regulatory agency had put in place measures requiring licensing of government IT project contractors.

According to him, any contractor not registered and licensed by NITDA would not be allowed to execute IT projects for any government agency when the process must have been completed.

The NITDA DG said, “The agency is dismayed at the rising number of failing IT projects within Federal MDAs and other government establishments.

“NITDA’s investigations revealed that over 90% of IT projects in MDAs and other government establishments failed and more than 95% of their security is compromised.”

Continuing, Ibrahim said, “In order to curtail this and in line with the agency’s mandate and the recent Presidential Executive Order 005 for Planning and Execution of Projects, Promotion of Nigerian Content in Contracts and Science, Engineering and Technology, as mandated by President Muhammadu Buhari, the registration and licensing of IT contractors and service providers has become expedient.”

The NITDA boss said the registration process was aimed at ensuring the emergence of robust indigenous IT service providers and contractors, guaranteeing the delivery of sustainable IT projects as well as engendering professionalism in the IT service industry.

He added that the process would ensure that IT projects in MDAs would be executed by only indigenous companies where in-country capacity exists.

Ibrahim said, “As part of the process, NITDA will monitor and ensure the capacity development of Nigerians employed by IT contractors and other service providers.

“Furthermore, the agency will, in conjunction with relevant agencies, investigate any project that has failed to determine the root cause of the failure and apply sanctions where necessary or to refer such cases to other relevant authorities.”

He counselled all firms that desire to provide IT services and contracts to MDAs and other government establishments to initiate the registration process with immediate effect.

Ibrahim added that the guidelines for registration process could be accessed from NITDA’s website or by writing a normal application to the agency.