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Good practice Imported

Zero of Eight: Nigeria's Federal and State Government Websites Fail Every Baseline Accessibility Test

Nigeria · Lagos · See the Nigeria profile · See the Lagos profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 62% 64/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A May 2026 audit of eight major Nigerian government and university websites found none had basic accessibility features, building on a 2024 investigation that found 26 of 36 states non-compliant with national web guidelines and 14 sites unusable for people with disabilities.

8 of 8
Government/university sites failing all baseline accessibility features (2026 audit) (2026-05)
26 of 37
State government websites rated non-compliant with NITDA guidelines (2024) (2024-07)
14 of 37
State government websites rated unusable for people with disabilities (2024) (2024-07)
Zero of Eight: Nigeria's Federal and State Government Websites Fail Every Baseline Accessibility Test

Details

Promoter
TechCabal; Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ); NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency)
Period
2024–2026
Keywords
e-government, web accessibility, disability rights, public administration

Context

Nigeria has an estimated 153 million internet users and around 35 million people living with disabilities. The Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 mandated accessible services with a five-year compliance grace period that expired in 2024, and NITDA's guidelines require WCAG conformance.

Activities

A May 2026 TechCabal investigation audited eight major public websites (UNILAG, LASU, JAMB, NIMC, the Nigeria Revenue Service, the Lagos State Government portal, and the NCPWD's own site) using WAVE WebAIM, axe DevTools and the WebAIM contrast checker against a WCAG 2.1 AA baseline. In July 2024, the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) assessed all 36 states plus the FCT against NITDA's own guidelines.

Results

Every one of the eight sites failed: none offered a language toggle, font-size control, high-contrast mode, or plain-language alternative; the NCPWD scored zero on its own website. FIJ found 26 of 37 assessed government websites non-compliant and rated 14 as unusable for people with disabilities.

Conclusions

As of August 2026, a promised national Web Design Standards toolkit (announced July 2024, promised within 8-10 weeks of a July 2025 launch) had not been published, despite the Ministry's own 2025 Year in Review listing its launch as a completed achievement.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD)

Conditions for success

  • an existing legal mandate (2018 Act) and published technical guidelines (NITDA WCAG requirement) as a foundation to build enforcement on

Common failure modes

  • every audited site failed baseline accessibility tests years after the legal compliance deadline passed
  • a promised national toolkit was announced and reported as launched but could not be found published
  • no instrument was backed by independent verification or enforcement

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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