The National Information Technology Development Agency has inaugurated the Technical Working Group for the National Regulatory Sandbox to strengthen coordination in the innovation ecosystem.

Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of NITDA, said the initiative was designed to address structural regulatory bottlenecks slowing innovation in Nigeria’s digital economy.

Mr Inuwa said existing regulatory frameworks were no longer adequate to keep pace with emerging technologies. He said regulators often operated in silos because of their separate statutory mandates.

According to him, the rapid growth of the digital economy has outpaced regulation, resulting in delays and barriers that hinder the deployment of innovative solutions that could improve lives and drive economic growth.

Mr Inuwa, during the inauguration on Thursday in Abuja, said that the multi-agency frameworks would enable regulators to understand one another’s mandates and work collaboratively to create an innovation-friendly environment while maintaining strong regulatory oversight.

“Nobody is taking away anybody’s regulatory power, but we are giving innovation a chance to thrive within the ecosystem,” he said.

Mr Inuwa explained that the sandbox model would allow regulators to “learn by doing” through creating supervised environments where innovators could test products and services safely before obtaining full regulatory approvals.

He added that the TWG would provide advisory, validation and governance functions for innovations emerging from the ecosystem and ensure strategic oversight of the sandbox framework.

“We are not launching just a document. We are building a governance structure and system that will impact innovation in Nigeria beyond the implementation phase,” he said.

(NAN)