The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Microsoft have recently renewed and expanded their partnership to boost Nigeria’s digital transformation, with Kashify Inuwa, the Director General for NITDA welcoming Jeff Bullwinkel, Microsoft’s Vice President and Deputy Counsel for Corporate External and Legal Affairs (EMEA), to NITDA’s headquarters in Abuja for a high-level meeting.
The high-level meeting discussed strengthening the collaboration already established between both parties. By strengthening this collaboration, the goal of the partnership is to accelerate the adoption of advanced technologies, improve digital skills, and create new opportunities for millions of Nigerians.
The partnership between NITDA and Microsoft is not new. Since 2017, both parties have worked together to shape Nigeria’s information technology landscape. Their early efforts focused on developing cloud computing policies, improving data protection, and encouraging government agencies to adopt secure cloud services.
In recent years, the partnership has evolved to focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to transform key sectors. In February 2025, the tech giant invested $1 million in Nigeria’s AI Skills Initiative, aiming to train one million Nigerians in AI development, data analytics, and machine learning by 2026. This aligns with NITDA’s National AI Strategy, which prioritizes the use of AI in healthcare, agriculture, and financial services.
This partnership also comes a day after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, co-founded by Bill Gates, Microsoft’s CEO, committed $7.5 million to build Nigeria’s first AI Scaling Hub.
It is no wonder that this renewed partnership focuses on scaling AI adoption across public services in the country, by aligning with President Bola Tinubu’s vision to position Nigeria as Africa’s leading digital economy. It also aims to enhance and build more robust cybersecurity frameworks, as well as support Nigeria’s goal of training 3 million technical talents by 2027.
“Through partnerships like this, we can fast-track national prosperity and digital inclusion,” Inuwa noted at the high-level meeting.
The roadmap for the next five years is ambitious. By 2027, the goal is to deploy AI assistants across most federal ministries and train half a million civil servants in advanced digital skills. Microsoft is also aiming to invest in energy-efficient AI solutions and working with regional partners to coordinate and integrate data protection standards across Nigeria and West Africa at large.
