NITDA, GBB Strike Cloud Deal to Power Nigerian Startups

"The collaboration, facilitated by the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), is designed to strengthen data sovereignty, deepen digital inclusion, and accelerate indigenous innovation by giving startups access to critical digital infrastructure."

Nigeria’s push to build a resilient digital economy has received a major boost as the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) sealed a strategic partnership to provide subsidised sovereign cloud services for startups under the iHatch programme.

The collaboration, facilitated by the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), is designed to strengthen data sovereignty, deepen digital inclusion, and accelerate indigenous innovation by giving startups access to critical digital infrastructure.

Under the arrangement, participating startups will be onboarded onto GBB’s Galaxy Cloud Platform (GxCP), an infrastructure backed by Uptime-certified Tier III and Tier IV data centres, a nationwide fibre network, and enhanced cybersecurity systems.

Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said the partnership underscores the agency’s commitment to “building a resilient and globally competitive startup ecosystem” through expanded access to digital infrastructure.

In the same vein, Managing Director/CEO of GBB, Ibrahim Adeyanju, noted that the initiative would empower startups with “secure, enterprise-grade cloud services at subsidised rates,” enabling them to host data locally while strengthening Nigeria’s digital sovereignty and economic resilience.

To ensure sustainability, GBB will deploy a tiered, milestone-based support model, releasing cloud credits across the “Build, Validate, and Scale” stages of startup development. The credits will be valid for 12 months, after which beneficiaries will transition to standard subscription or pay-as-you-go billing models.

The initiative also includes a dedicated Startup Success Team to support onboarding and adoption, alongside automated usage monitoring and alerts to optimise resource utilisation. Notably, all post-credit billing will be denominated in naira, shielding startups from foreign exchange volatility.

General Manager, Strategic Partnerships at GBB, Abdul Malik Suleiman, described the partnership as a deliberate effort to bridge the gap between infrastructure and innovation by making world-class cloud services more accessible.

Also speaking, ONDI National Coordinator, Victoria Fabunmi, said integrating GBB’s sovereign cloud into the iHatch programme would significantly enhance startups’ capacity to scale and compete globally using the right technological tools.

The iHatch programme has already trained over 160 startups across 37 hub partners nationwide, with the new partnership expected to further accelerate innovation, enable scale, and strengthen Nigeria’s fast-growing digital ecosystem.