NITDA to blacklist MDAs not domiciled on FG’s .gov.ng

Stories by Ayoni M. Agbabiaka with agencies

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has threatened to blacklist all Ministries, Departments and Agencies whose sites are running on Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD), other than the .gov.ng.
Director – General of NITDA, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, said “.gov.ng domain names are free with no rental or renewal cost attached” so there is no need for attitudes of the MDAs to the directive.
“We therefore call on MDAs and service providers to support the federal government effort of moving Nigeria up on the scale of “ease of doing business” by ensuring that all government websites are only hosted on the .gov.ng as this will promote government service delivery in Nigeria.
In a statement by the DG, NITDA frowns at the total disregard to the use of .gov.ng domain in the transaction of government business despite previous press statements by the agency.
“NITDA will henceforth ensure strict compliance with the directive by ensuring that all government business transactions are strictly carried out on the Country Code Top Level Domain of the Nigerian government (ccTLD.ng).
To this end, the management of NITDA has put in place measures to ensure that all government MDAs (Federal, State, and Local Government) operate with the .gov.ng
These measures according to Pantami, include: “Ensuring that all request for .gov.ng domain are verified and approved within 24hours provided all conditions are met; provision of a special purpose 24/7 mobile phone number (+2348140504418) for responses to enquiries and technical support; regular evaluation of government websites in collaboration with relevant agencies of the government; and blacklisting of all MDA sites running on Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD), other than the .gov.ng.
NITDA is an Agency of the Nigerian government tasked with the implementation of the Nigerian Information Technology Policy and co-ordination of general IT development and regulation in the country.
He stressed that section 6(l) of the NITDA Act mandates that NITDA renders advisory services in all Information Technology matters to the public and private sectors. NITDA is also mandated “to ensure Internet governance and supervision of the management of the country code top-level domain (cctld.ng) on behalf of all Nigerians.”

…Saves FG N3bn through IT projects clearance process
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has revealed that it helped federal government saved a sum of N3 Billion on a single IT Project of an Agency.
Through its commitment as the government’s clearinghouse for all IT procurement and services in the public sector NITDA said federal government shall be getting a handle on wasteful and duplicative IT procurement and services in MDAs.
Amid growing concerns about the mismanagement of huge investment of public funds on IT Projects in MDAs, NITDA DG, Ali Isa Pantami, stressed that the process of obtaining clearance from NITDA is targeted at extracting maximum value from MDAs’ investments on IT projects.
He said, “President Muhammadu Buhari, has called for strict compliance to the IT Project’s Clearance directive by all government establishments to ensure that governments ICT procurements are transparent, align with government’s IT shared vision and policy, save costs through promotion of shared services.
Also, the IT clearance policy is to avoid duplication, ensure interoperability of IT systems and improve efficiency across government, enforce the patronage of indigenous companies where capacity exist thus fostering digital economy through effective regulation and local content development as well as uphold the highest standards for service delivery,” the DG said in a statement on Monday Signed Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations, Mrs Hadiza Umar.

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