Authors - Usman G. Abdullahi, Kashifu I. Abdullahi Abstract - Weak governance of public-sector digital investments continues to undermine the effectiveness of digital transformation initiatives in many developing countries, resulting in inefficiencies, project failures, and erosion of public trust. While existing literature has largely focused on digital service delivery and user adoption, less attention has been given to upstream governance mechanisms that shape how digital investments are assessed and approved. This paper examines stakeholders' perceptions of the effectiveness of the IT project clearance process, implemented by Nigeria's National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) as a risk-based, stage-gated centralised digital investment governance mechanism. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design approach. The design was suitable for this study because the research focused on evaluating the perceived impact of the clearance framework on compliance across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), local content promotion, reduction in duplication and waste, standardisation and interoperability, transparency in IT projects, and, more importantly, trust in public investments. The study employed a quantitative research approach, which facilitated the objective measurement of respondents' views using numerical data and statistical analysis. The findings from this study indicate a very strong positive perception of the effectiveness of NITDA's IT Projects Clearance process among stakeholders. Using a 5-point Likert scale, all evaluated attributes recorded mean scores above 4.40, suggesting widespread agreement that the clearance framework contributes significantly to accountability, coordination, transparency, trust and value optimisation in government IT investments. More importantly, the study contributes to digital governance literature by reframing IT project assurance as a foundational element of ethical and trust-based governance systems, offering insights relevant to governments seeking to strengthen oversight of digital investments. The findings are also expected to provide useful insights for policymakers, government institutions, ICT regulators, researchers, and development practitioners seeking to improve digital governance frameworks and optimise public sector technology investments.
