About NIIP What we do

About NIIP

Liberian analysts at their screens, maps of the country open in front of them
The program
NIIP is the acronym for the National ICT Intelligence Program: a private-sector project, funded by the Government of Liberia, international agencies, private-sector stakeholders and institutions, to collect and continuously maintain Liberia’s ICT data, disaggregated across all 15 counties.
The software
Its data system, NIIS (the National ICT Intelligence System), runs on three tiers of software. Secured databases store the ICT data we collect; a data-analytics algorithm draws on them; and the platform it feeds gives the public, anywhere in the world, access to ICT data across 168 indicators.
The research
NIIP is also an accelerator of ICT research. We have built a repository of all publicly available Liberian ICT research papers, we collect and host papers by Liberian ICT researchers, and we help researchers get published. We are also bringing together in one place, for the public, the ICT reports of government institutions, regulators and service providers.
The access
We provide training and boot camps in partnership with international and local universities. And anyone who wants more data, a particular dataset or a new indicator can open a secure account on the platform, to search and save papers and reports, submit their research, and search for a job.
The reason
For Liberia’s national commitments, and to create jobs for young Liberians in tech.

15

Counties measured

Every indicator, nationwide

168

Indicators in the catalogue

Published and documented

17

Indicator domains

From connectivity to sustainability

174

Programme positions

Created for Liberian staff

“THE MISSION”
Liberia’s official source of ICT data. All fifteen counties. One trusted system.
“THE PROBLEM”
For two decades, Liberia’s digital story was told with numbers from somewhere else.
“THE ANSWER”
President Boakai wants to modernize ICT in Liberia. NIIS gives him the data he needs in real time.
  1. What we do. 15 counties, collected, validated, published. We collect, validate and publish Liberia’s ICT statistics for all 15 counties, and we build the infrastructure that keeps them at home.
  2. Why we do it. For Liberia’s national commitments, and to create jobs for young Liberians in tech: 174 positions across eight role types, from enumerators and supervisors in every county to research leads, data engineers, GIS and sampling specialists, quality analysts and developers, recruited from Liberian STEM graduates and trained locally. See open roles.
  3. Commitment 1 of 6: ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, 2025 to 2029. ICT modernization sits in the Infrastructure pillar. NIIS is the measurement layer it is judged against.
  4. Commitment 2 of 6: National Digital Strategy, 2025 to 2029, of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Cybersecurity and data sovereignty is one of its eight priorities. This is that pillar, made operational.
  5. Commitment 3 of 6: Data Protection Act, enacted 2026. Built to Liberia’s first personal-data law: aggregate, anonymized statistics only.
  6. Commitment 4 of 6: AU Data Policy Framework, adopted 2022. Continental policy since 2022: member states are expected to hold and govern their own data.
  7. Commitment 5 of 6: United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Target 17.18. Increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts. County-level is the target, verbatim.
  8. Commitment 6 of 6: Regional Digital Integration, ECOWAS and WARDIP. You cannot negotiate on indicators you cannot produce, or benchmark against neighbours without them.

Peers have moved their data infrastructure home. Liberia has the law and the strategy, and not yet the platform.

  1. Rwanda: Ahead. Data-residency rules enforced; hosts the UN Big Data hub in Kigali; national AI agency.
  2. Kenya: Ahead. Government data held in-territory by policy; sovereign-hosted cloud launched 2026.
  3. Nigeria: Ahead. Domestic storage of all payment data mandated from January 2027.
  4. Ghana: Ahead. Malabo Convention ratified; national data portal published and maintained.
  5. Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo: Ahead. Malabo ratified; national data-centre programmes in delivery.
  6. Liberia: The gap. Law and strategy in place. No national ICT statistics platform in operation.

FAQ

Got more questions? Request an account

How is NIIS data licensed?

All open data published through NIIS is available under an open licence for research, journalism and policy use, with attribution to the ICT Statistics & Policy Unit, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Open by default is a design principle, not a concession.

How often is the data updated?

Most indicators refresh annually following the national survey wave; a subset fed by operator data-sharing agreements refreshes biennially. Each indicator’s periodicity is shown in the Indicator Catalogue.

How is this different from the data international agencies already publish on Liberia?

International datasets are indispensable and we use them. But where national returns are incomplete they are modelled or trend-projected, and they report Liberia as one national figure. NIIS collects observed values, disaggregates them to all 15 counties, and publishes the method alongside the number.

Is NIIP a government body or a private initiative?

NIIP is a private-sector-led initiative delivering a national public good, working with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and contributing agencies under data-sharing cooperation. The platform is built to be handed to, and sustained by, Liberian institutions.

What happens when donor funding ends?

The programme is designed for transition, not dependency: infrastructure hosted in-country, methodology documented and published, staff recruited and trained locally, and a services and licensing model intended to carry recurring costs after the establishment phase.

How do you protect personal data?

NIIS publishes aggregate, anonymized statistics only. It collects no individual-level personal data beyond what is required to produce those aggregates, in line with Liberia’s Data Protection Act.

How do I request a new indicator?

Registered users can reach the ICT Statistics & Policy Unit directly through the platform’s messaging system once logged in.

Can I use this data in a publication?

Yes, cite NIIS and the ICT Statistics & Policy Unit. Values are demonstration data pending production feeds; check the methodology note on each indicator before publication.