The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has urged Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government to support Nigeria’s transition from Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) to strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure.
The agency said the migration was critical to expanding digital public services and meeting Nigeria’s growing digital connectivity needs.
NITDA’s Director of Corporate Communications Hajiya Hadiza Umar said this in a statement after opening an IPv6 migration readiness workshop in Abuja.
NITDA organised the workshop in collaboration with the Nigeria IPv6 Council and the African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC).
The agency’s Director-General Kashifu Inuwa whose remarks were delivered by Oladejo Olawumi Director of the Digital Development Services Department stressed the need for senior government officials to commit to ensuring a smooth transition across public institutions.
The workshop featured two training streams: one for directors and management-level officials to equip them with the knowledge needed to support migration and another to strengthen the technical capacity of implementation personnel.
Inuwa said the training was designed to help government officials understand the transition process and the reasons for adopting IPv6 while ensuring they could support technical teams during implementation.
He emphasised that management-level understanding and backing were necessary for technical personnel to make progress with the migration.
‘If you don’t understand what you are trying to do it might be difficult for your technical staff to move forward’ he said.
Inuwa commended stakeholders for collaborating with NITDA on delivering the country’s information technology projects describing the workshop as another step toward ensuring their involvement throughout the transition.
The migration from IPv4 to IPv6 is intended to address the limitations of the older internet protocol and provide a more scalable foundation for Nigeria’s expanding digital services.