Lessons from Katsina Self-powered Digital Initiatives

Omolabake Fasogbon

For years, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have outsourced critical ICT functions to foreign consultants, incurring huge costs that could have been saved if built and managed internally.

A former Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission( NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe once argued that the country’s dependence on foreign ICT services drains billions annually, insisting the same could be retained if government engaged domestic expertise.

 A professor of Innovation and Technology, Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, described indigenous technological capability as a prerequisite for real national development.

Achieving this vision thus informed the establishment of the Katsina State Directorate of Information and Communications Technology (KATDICT) to lead the state’s digital transformation drive.

Director General of KATDICT, Naufal Ahmad said the directorate emerged from the state government’s vision to pursue a holistic digital transformation that would be state-powered and nurtured, rather than relying on external consultants.

According to Ahmad, KATDICT presently oversees a whole-of-government digital transformation covering all 118 ministries, departments and agencies in the state.

“We serve as a central clearinghouse for all ICT projects, procurement of hardware, software development, training and change management,” he said.

With this infrastructure in place, memos and approvals are now processed digitally, replacing physical file movement.

The state also operates a Treasury Single Account (TSA) platform enabling digital budgeting, expenditure and revenue flows, alongside shared internet infrastructure across MDAs.

“Through this, we have improved efficiency, reduced the cost of governance, and increased the speed of service delivery in Katsina. Beyond that, we are creating jobs and enriching the state’s coffers,” Ahmad added.

Powering digital transformation internally, Ahmad noted, now saves the state about N5 billion that could otherwise have gone into consultancy fees.

 Experts say the model reduces duplication, one of the biggest drivers of waste in public finance.

For Katsina, however, it has been able to reduce cost of projects by leveraging internal capacity.

“Something that would have cost the state N150 million can now be built by an intern here, and we don’t charge the government for it,” he said.

 A tour of KATDICT by THISDAY reflected the state’s readiness in building a digital economy, beyond scoring political points.

 “We have laid 27 kilometres of fibre optic cable connecting the KATDICT central office to the state secretariat and Government House. We have connected the airport, the State House of Assembly and other critical institutions. We have also distributed over 2,000 ICT devices across MDAs to support digitization processes,” he explained.

 He added that the state had fully waived right-of-way charges to attract more partners and investment into the technology sector.

 A 2023 research by global advisory firm, Gartner revealed that government’s Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are increasingly relying on external partners to accelerate digital transformation.

 Nigeria’s ICT sector accounted for 11.18 percent of total real GDP in Q2 2025, compared to 10.93 percent in Q2 2024 and 10.59 percent in the previous quarter, reflecting an economy where the cost of skilled digital labour and technology services is rising sharply. 

For state governments without dedicated internal teams, the market cost of building, deploying and maintaining the kind of systems Katsina now runs in-house would be significantly higher.

 By training and retaining human capital within the system, who in turn train others, the state is not only spreading knowledge but also creating wealth.

 “Many of our tech trainees are already employed or engaged through state-backed programmes to build and maintain systems internally. Some are earning between ₦700,000 and ₦1 million monthly in private sector roles, including oil and gas firms within and outside Nigeria. That reflects the market value of the skills being developed,” Ahmad said.

He added that Governor of Katsina State, Dikko Umaru Radda was particularly committed to building local capacity, making him to incentivise training programmes and sponsor beneficiaries to study artificial intelligence, robotics and biotechnology in places including China and Cairo.

He revealed the State was also leveraging foreign partnerships to make its technology ecosystem globally competitive, one of which is the Learn to Earn programme facilitated by the Co- founder of Andela and Flutterwave, Iyin Aboyeji. 

 “This initiative has brought 250 young people into a peer-to-peer learning environment in Katsina, where meals are provided and each participant earns ₦100,000 monthly during the two-year programme, after which they are placed with global companies earning in dollars.

“Trainings delivered through partners such as Tech4Dev⁠ and backed by major multinationals, also come with internationally recognised certifications that expand the employability pipeline”, he stated. 

In preventing a power challenge that may undermine the digital transformation drive, the state set up the Department of Power and Energy to manage investment in solar energy which is the major electricity source across ministries.

 Ahmad said this minimises downtime and reduces electricity expenses.

 The DG added that while insecurity remains a challenge, the situation is improving alongside the emergence of a new economic ecosystem gradually positioning the state as a technology hub.