Nigeria’s government has ordered regulatory agencies to suspend enforcement of newly introduced rules governing internet platforms and online intermediaries while it develops a unified national digital economy policy, the communications ministry said Tuesday.
The directive from Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Bosun Tijani followed a meeting with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC). Tijani said the existing regulatory status quo would be maintained on matters relating to internet platforms and other cross-cutting digital economy issues while agencies work through overlapping mandates.
“The convergence of telecommunications, digital platforms, artificial intelligence, online safety and data governance requires a coordinated whole-of-government approach to policy development and implementation,” Tijani said, adding that regulatory coordination was essential to give investors and operators legal certainty.
The overlap centers partly on a draft Internet Code of Practice released by the NCC in December 2025, which duplicated provisions already covered by NITDA’s 2022 Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms and Internet Intermediaries — rules that require platforms with more than 100,000 Nigerian users to establish a local presence, appoint country representatives and remove unlawful content within 24 hours of notice. Internet platforms operating in Nigeria are also subject to separate data protection, cybercrime and competition laws enforced by different agencies.
As part of the directive, the ministry is setting up a Joint Technical Coordination Committee with representatives from the three agencies to consult industry, civil society and academic stakeholders and recommend a harmonized regulatory framework. Officials said the suspension does not weaken any agency’s existing legal mandate and is intended to reduce compliance uncertainty for technology companies and startups.
The move comes less than 24 hours after President Bola Tinubu ordered Nigeria’s competition watchdog to investigate major technology and generative AI companies over alleged anti-competitive practices and use of Nigerian media content.
