NGSTQB backs NITDA’s software testing guideline, calls for risk-based enforcement

The Nigerian Software Testing Qualifications Board (NGSTQB) has formally endorsed the National Software Testing Guideline introduced by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), while urging that its enforcement follow a risk-based, tiered model rather than a one-size-fits-all standard.

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The Guideline, issued in April 2026, requires software developed, modified, integrated or deployed for use in Nigeria to undergo functional and non-functional testing, covering security, performance, usability, compatibility, reliability, maintainability and portability, before operational deployment. It applies across both public and private sectors, with the depth of testing determined by a system’s risk, data sensitivity, public exposure and potential consequences of failure.

NGSTQB, a professional body focused on software testing standards and certification in Nigeria, said the Guideline addresses a gap in the country’s digital economy, where software failures have disrupted banking, identity and public-service platforms relied on by millions of Nigerians.

“Software has become the invisible infrastructure of Nigeria’s economy, it sits behind every bank transfer, every hospital record, every government portal. When that infrastructure is not properly tested, the cost is not abstract; it is failed transactions, exposed data and public services that let people down. NGSTQB gives its full support to NITDA’s objective of ensuring that software used in Nigeria is secure, reliable and fit for purpose,” said Mr. Boye Dare, President of NGSTQB.

Image of NITDA building

The Board said its support is anchored on five positions: full backing for the Guideline’s objectives and implementation; alignment with NITDA’s aim of ensuring software meets defined standards of quality, security and performance; support for independent, competent and accountable testing of systems whose failure could materially affect citizens or critical infrastructure; a call for proportionate, risk-based regulation so that assurance effort matches potential harm rather than applying uniformly across all software; and a call on industry to treat compliance as a market-enabling investment rather than a late-stage certification exercise.

“A defect in a brochure website is not the same as a defect in a payment switch or a national identity platform. We support universal minimum requirements, but enhanced testing has to be reserved for the systems where failure carries national consequence. That is what makes this Guideline workable rather than just aspirational,” Mr. Dare said.

Under the framework, software must be assessed by a NITDA-licensed testing organisation and certified compliant before operational use, with acceptance criteria requiring the system to be free of unresolved critical or high-risk defects.

Significant modifications to certified software may trigger renewed testing and certification.

NITDA DG, Kashifu Inuwa and Boye Dare, President of NGSTQB

NGSTQB said it will support implementation of the Guideline through education and awareness campaigns for industry, academia and the public sector; capacity development for testing professionals and organisations; implementation guidance and best-practice resources; and ongoing engagement with NITDA to gather industry feedback.

*“We are not approaching this as regulators looking in from outside. We are committing to sit with industry, train the professionals who will do this testing, and take feedback back to NITDA so the Guideline works in practice, not just on paper,” the *NGSTQB’s President said.

The Board framed the Guideline as part of a broader push to build trust in Nigeria’s digital economy, arguing that reliable testing standards reduce system downtime and fraud exposure for organisations while improving the international competitiveness of locally developed software.