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 its enforcement follows a risk-based, tiered model rather than a one-size-fits-all standard.
The guideline 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 would address 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.
President of NGSTQB, Mr. Boye Dare, said: “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.”
The board said its support remained 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.