Nigeria Woos Global Investors with Sovereign Cloud, Data Centre Push

Moderator of the Fireside Chat, "From Policy to Investable Demand", Jay Katatumba, Senior Investment Director, Africa50 Infrastructure Acceleration and DG NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE during the ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya

"The country’s ambition was not only to consume digital services but to build the infrastructure required to support Africa’s growing data, cloud and artificial intelligence economy." Inuwa 

Nigeria has intensified efforts to attract global technology investors into its rapidly expanding digital economy, unveiling a sovereign cloud strategy designed to convert government policy and regulation into bankable demand for private capital.

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said the Federal Government was repositioning itself from merely regulating the digital sector to actively creating markets and enabling investment.

Inuwa spoke during a fireside chat titled “From Policy to Investable Demand” at the Nigerian Workshop on Nigeria’s Digital Infrastructure Opportunity, held on the sidelines of ITW DataCloud Africa 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The session was moderated by Jay Katatumba, Senior Investment Director at Africa50 Infrastructure Acceleration.

Addressing data centre operators, hyperscalers, infrastructure providers, investors, financial institutions, cloud providers and connectivity companies, Inuwa said Nigeria’s National Cloud Infrastructure Strategy was designed to bridge the gap between public policy and private capital.

According to him, the strategy would transform regulatory requirements into predictable demand capable of attracting investment into local data centres, cloud infrastructure, connectivity and digital skills.

He said sustainable innovation ecosystems depended on five critical pillars: higher institutions that produce skilled manpower, entrepreneurs who commercialise innovation, corporate organisations that absorb talent and solutions, risk capital to support market growth, and government policies that create a stable environment for businesses.

“Every regulatory action must be capable of creating markets, catalysing innovation and protecting consumers,” he said.

On concerns about how investors could secure revenue-backed commitments from government policies, the NITDA boss pointed to measures already being introduced to stimulate local demand, including the Central Bank of Nigeria’s requirement for domestic processing of financial transactions.

He said the National Digital Cloud Policy and its investment roadmap were intended to reduce investment risks and provide clearer pathways for private capital to establish data centres and expand digital infrastructure in Nigeria.

Inuwa also sought to allay fears over the energy requirements of large-scale digital infrastructure, saying data centre operators would not be restricted to relying on the national grid.

He said existing regulatory frameworks allowed investors to deploy captive power solutions through renewable energy, gas-fired plants and independent power purchase agreements.

The NITDA DG said Nigeria was also adopting flexible cloud architectures that would enable organisations to use public cloud infrastructure while keeping sensitive information within local facilities.

He explained that data localisation requirements were primarily focused on sovereign and highly sensitive information, including national financial records, health data and intelligence.

According to him, allowing such critical information to be stored or accessed outside national oversight could expose countries to geopolitical and economic vulnerabilities.

Inuwa further identified connectivity, cloud computing and artificial intelligence as major interconnected investment opportunities across Nigeria’s digital economy.

He said the government was expanding broadband infrastructure through Project Link, while the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative would provide computing capacity needed to support local artificial intelligence workloads.

He added that developing sovereign AI capabilities had become increasingly important as automated systems begin to influence decisions in sectors such as finance, healthcare and the justice system.

Inuwa said Nigeria was positioning itself to become a major destination for digital infrastructure investment in Africa, citing the country’s improving performance in global AI governance and policy rankings.

Recent benchmarks place Nigeria 35th worldwide in AI governance and policy according to global tracking metrics, while the International Monetary Fund ranks the country as a leader in Africa’s emerging AI economy. Inuwa urged investors to capitalize on these tailored initiatives, reiterating that Nigeria is fully prepared to partner with private capital to build secure, scalable infrastructure for the continent.

He urged global investors to take advantage of Nigeria’s growing digital market, assuring them that the government was prepared to work with private capital to develop secure, scalable and sustainable infrastructure.

The NITDA boss said the country’s ambition was not only to consume digital services but to build the infrastructure required to support Africa’s growing data, cloud and artificial intelligence economy.