NITDA Signs AI Partnerships With Canadian Tech Firms as Nigeria Builds Local Digital Capacity. Nigeria is looking beyond its borders to strengthen its AI capabilities—and two new Canadian partnerships are part of that push.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has entered into memoranda of understanding with Canadian technology companies Goose FL and Fireflies AI in Toronto.
The agreements come as Nigeria steps up efforts to attract global technology expertise while developing the infrastructure, skills and systems needed to support a stronger domestic digital economy.
NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi attended the signing ceremonies, according to a statement the agency published on Tuesday.
Three priorities behind the agreements
NITDA said the partnerships are built around three areas: financial inclusion, local AI infrastructure and digital-economy development.
1. Expanding access to digital finance
The collaboration is expected to support technology that can make digital financial services more accessible, particularly for communities that remain underserved.
The wider objective is to use technology to open up new economic opportunities for people and businesses that have traditionally had limited access to formal digital services.
2. Building Nigeria’s own AI capacity
The AI component is more strategic.
NITDA wants Nigeria to develop the ability to build, operate and benefit from AI infrastructure locally, rather than relying entirely on technology developed and controlled abroad.
That means partnerships such as these could help with technology transfer, local expertise and the development of indigenous AI services.
3. Growing the digital economy
The agency also sees international partnerships as a route to strengthening innovation and digital skills.
The intended outcome goes beyond individual projects: more technology knowledge, stronger local capacity and greater participation in the digital economy.
NITDA linked the initiative to President Bola Tinubu’s ambition to grow Nigeria into a $1 trillion economy by 2030, with digital technology, innovation and human capital playing central roles.
This is part of a bigger NITDA push
The agreements with Goose FL and Fireflies AI are not isolated moves.
NITDA has pursued several digital-development initiatives in recent months, pointing to a broader effort to build Nigeria’s technology ecosystem.
In June, the agency signed an MoU with the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission (DAWN) to support digital-skills development and innovation infrastructure across the six South-West states.
Around the same period, NITDA partnered with TikTok on a Digital Commerce Lab for small and medium-sized businesses in Lagos. The initiative included a $20,000 pilot Train-the-Trainer programme and was intended to extend digital-skills training to entrepreneurs, including those in underserved and remote communities.
Then came another major infrastructure move.
In August, NITDA signed regulatory instruments connected to the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative (NSCI). The package included the National Cloud Computing Guideline, National Cloud Technical Guideline and National Digital Infrastructure Assurance Framework, alongside the National Cloud Investment Strategy.
Together, these moves suggest a consistent approach: use partnerships, standards and investment frameworks to accelerate the country’s digital infrastructure while strengthening domestic capabilities.
The next challenge: making government software more reliable
NITDA is also tightening the rules around how software is developed and deployed across the Federal Government.
The agency has introduced the National Software Quality Assurance (SQA) Framework, which calls for government software projects to undergo independent testing and certification before deployment.
NITDA says the framework is intended to tackle several recurring problems at once:
- Reduce expensive technology failures
- Improve cybersecurity
- Create consistent software-development standards
- Strengthen confidence in digital government services
The agency also plans to license technology companies to provide independent software testing and certification.
Importantly, this will not remain voluntary for federal government software projects.
Under the framework, independent testing and certification will become a requirement for securing IT Project Clearance from the second quarter of 2027.
Why the partnerships matter
The Canadian agreements fit into a larger transition underway in Nigeria’s technology sector.
The immediate headlines are about AI, financial inclusion and international collaboration. The bigger story is capacity.
Nigeria is trying to build an ecosystem in which it can develop its own technology, train the people who operate it, establish standards for how it is deployed and create infrastructure capable of supporting the next phase of digital growth.
If those pieces come together, international partnerships could become more than technology deals. They could serve as a bridge between global expertise and locally owned digital capability—the part of the strategy that may matter most over the long term.