Software Quality Assurance Practices in Nigerian Software Development Companies

Software quality deficiencies in Nigerian-developed products lead to product failures, customer attrition, and reputational damage that undermine the growth of the national software industry. This study examines software quality assurance practices and their association with product quality outcomes in Nigerian software development companies. A professional survey was conducted among 80 software engineers, quality assurance managers, and CTOs at software companies in Lagos, Abuja, and Enugu. The survey covered testing methodology, QA process maturity, documentation standards, defect management, and use of automated testing tools. Company size and product type were included as stratifying variables. Analysis used descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U tests for group comparisons. Results indicate that 68 percent of surveyed companies rely predominantly on manual testing, with only 23 percent having implemented CI/CD pipelines with automated test suites. Smaller companies (below 50 employees) show significantly lower QA maturity scores than larger firms. Absence of dedicated QA engineers is reported by 41 percent of companies. Defect escape rates are significantly higher in companies without structured code review processes. The study concludes that the Nigerian software industry requires concerted professional development investment in QA practices and recommends adoption of the ISO/IEC 25010 software quality model as a national software quality standard, supported by government incentives for QA certification in Nigerian software firms.

Keywords: software quality assurance, Nigerian software companies, testing methodology, CI/CD, quality management