The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has raised concerns over what it described as serious gender and climate gaps in Nigeria’s digital policies, calling for urgent reviews to ensure inclusive and environmentally sustainable implementation.
The call was made at a two-day national workshop titled Engendering and Greening Digital Policies in Nigeria, organised by CITAD with support from the Association for Progressive Communications and held in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, the project lead, Fatima Baba-Kura, said findings from CITAD’s research showed that while gender and climate issues were mentioned in some national digital policies, they were largely superficial and lacked measurable indicators to assess impact.
“Our analysis of four major digital policies revealed that gender and climate considerations are often treated as afterthoughts. In many cases, there are no clear Key Performance Indicators to track progress, and climate-related targets such as SDG 13 were completely omitted,” she said.
Baba-Kura stressed that the absence of concrete monitoring frameworks has made it difficult to evaluate outcomes, warning that Nigeria’s digital transformation could deepen inequality if not deliberately structured to address inclusion and sustainability.
“Digital transformation is not just about technology; it is about people. If our policies ignore women, marginalised communities, and environmental realities, then we are building systems that will worsen inequality rather than solve it,” she added.
She called on government institutions and policymakers to review existing digital frameworks to deliberately integrate gender inclusion and climate action, noting that sustainability and equity must be central to Nigeria’s digital agenda.
Also speaking, the Director of Climate Change at the Kano State Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Umar Saleh Anka, urged policymakers and private sector actors to align Nigeria’s digital economy with climate action goals to reduce emissions and close gender gaps.
According to him, provisions of the Climate Change Act 2021 and Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions, which target a 20 per cent unconditional and 46 per cent conditional reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, could be supported through green digital practices.
“Organisations can contribute by adopting energy-efficient websites, paperless systems, green procurement, and renewable-powered data centres. These steps will not only cut emissions but also create green jobs,” Anka said.
He warned that climate change poses growing risks to digital infrastructure through flooding and heat stress, leading to higher operating costs and reduced productivity, while also highlighting persistent gender gaps in access to digital tools and internet services.
Participants at the workshop, drawn from government ministries, regulatory agencies, and the private sector, reviewed key national digital policies and identified weak operational mechanisms for measuring gender impact and addressing environmental sustainability.
They also noted that women’s involvement in project design often results in more sustainable outcomes, citing rural initiatives where women prioritised access to water and social infrastructure over less impactful projects.
The workshop ended with group sessions that produced actionable recommendations for reform, with CITAD reaffirming its commitment to sustained engagement with policymakers.