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 calling for its enforcement to follow a risk-based, tiered model rather than a one-size-fits-all standard.

Issued in April 2026, the Guideline requires software developed, modified, integrated or deployed for use in Nigeria to undergo both functional and non-functional testing before operational deployment. The non-functional requirements cover security, performance, usability, compatibility, reliability, maintainability and portability. The rules apply across the public and private sectors alike, with the depth of testing determined by a system’s risk profile, data sensitivity, public exposure and the 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 upon 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.

The Board said its support rests 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. Acceptance criteria require the system to be free of unresolved critical or high-risk defects, and significant modifications to certified software may trigger renewed testing and certification. In practice, that places testing and certification ahead of launch for any organisation building or running software for the Nigerian market, rather than leaving assurance as a post-release afterthought.

NGSTQB said it will support implementation of the Guideline through education and awareness campaigns directed at 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 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. The near-term markers of how the policy lands are set out in the framework itself: the licensing of testing organisations, the certification step ahead of operational use, and the industry feedback loop with NITDA that NGSTQB has committed to maintain.

Source: TechNext24