By The absence of global date centres players in Africa denies Nigeria of investment into the data centres infrastructure deployment in the country.
Indeed, the lack of clear data on infrastructure is making the attraction investment becomes challenging, the Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), observed.
Who made the observation at the virtual inauguration of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on National Cloud Infrastructure said that while Africa comprises nearly 19% of the world’s population, it hosts less than 1% of global data centres.
“This disparity, coupled with limited insights into Nigeria’s existing IT capacity, hampers investment efforts and without clear data on our infrastructure, attracting investment becomes challenging,” he said.
He added: “Without this foundation, we cannot achieve true digital sovereignty. Our goal is to build an ecosystem where both local data centre providers can scale, and global hyper-scalers see Nigeria as a viable investment destination.”
The NITDA boss disclosed that the Agency had commissioned comprehensive research to assess Nigeria’s digital landscape which findings have highlighted the need for improved regulatory frameworks, clearer investment incentives, and stronger public-private collaboration. He added that subsequently upon this, NITDA has engaged global consultants to redefine strategies for cloud development.
This initiative aims to enhance local cloud capabilities, attract hyper-scale investments, and position Nigeria as a leading technology hub in Africa.
He urged industry experts, policymakers, and stakeholders to contribute their expertise and resources, stressing “With collective effort, Nigeria can emerge as the premier digital hub for West and Central Africa.”
In his remark, Acting Director of Regulation and Compliance, Barrister Emmanuel Edet, said: “Our objective is to establish policies and legal frameworks that support cloud development, enabling us to securely host and manage our data. This is crucial for the growth of our digital economy.”
He also highlights the necessity of capacity building, stating that, “Equipping ourselves with top-tier training and expertise is essential to fully leverage digital technologies.”
Edet called on all stakeholders to actively participate in shaping Nigeria’s digital future saying that “Collaboratively, we must develop a framework that reflects our national interests, and it should be widely accepted. This effort will define Nigeria’s role in the global digital arena.”
The TWG will help in the drive to attract hyperscale investments and enhance local cloud capabilities by proffering measures to encourage the use of accurate data, recommend the enactment and compliance to enabling policies.
Members of the TWG which includes Google, AWS, IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, HUAWEI Cloud, Equinix, Kasi, Rack Centre, Africa Data Centres, several other data centre operators and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission expressed support and readiness to volunteer and contribute resources.
