Nigeria needs to significantly increase investment in data centre infrastructure as the country’s growing appetite for cloud services, artificial intelligence and other digital technologies puts additional pressure on computing and storage capacity.
The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Inuwa, made the call while speaking at a panel session titled “Converting Digital Demand into Data Centre Investment” at the recently concluded ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026.
The session brought together industry executives from Digital Realty Nigeria, Equinix, Africa Hyperscalers and Oracle to discuss how Nigeria can turn its expanding digital activity into tangible investment in the infrastructure needed to support the country’s technology ecosystem.
Inuwa said government policy would play a major role in determining whether Nigeria could attract the level of investment required to build and expand its data centre capacity.
According to him, investors need a predictable regulatory environment and clear government direction before committing significant capital to digital infrastructure projects.
“The primary responsibility of the government is to clearly establish strategic intentions, creating a stable framework that not only guides what needs to be built but actively catalyses growth across the tech landscape,” he said. He added that regulatory certainty would help infrastructure providers make long-term investment decisions because they would have a clearer understanding of how digital infrastructure would be deployed, regulated and used within the Nigerian market.
“By giving investors full regulatory certainty, operators can build with confidence, knowing precisely how infrastructure will be deployed, governed, and consumed across the market,” Inuwa said. Data centres have become increasingly important to modern digital economies because they provide the computing, storage and connectivity infrastructure behind services such as cloud platforms, online applications and artificial intelligence systems.
As companies and consumers increasingly depend on digital services, demand for reliable and scalable infrastructure is also rising. For Nigeria, expanding this capacity could become critical to supporting the next phase of digital growth.
Inuwa said Nigeria’s appeal to data centre investors should not be viewed solely through the size of its population.
He pointed to the increasing demand for locally hosted digital workloads, the country’s geographical position and its growing pool of technology professionals as additional advantages that could make Nigeria an attractive destination for infrastructure investment.The NITDA chief said Nigeria could also use its geographical position to develop into a major connectivity and transit hub serving markets across West and Central Africa.
At the same time, he said the country’s technology talent could help create solutions and services built around modern digital networks, potentially strengthening the value of the infrastructure being deployed.
However, Inuwa stressed that infrastructure growth would need to be matched by strong cybersecurity measures.
He said digital trust was becoming an essential component of national technology development, noting that NITDA was incorporating cybersecurity into its approach through initiatives such as the Digital Assurance Framework, the Cybercrime Act and the broader National Cybersecurity Architecture.
According to him, government information technology projects are now required to obtain cybersecurity by design clearances, with the process covering infrastructure ranging from last-mile devices to critical national infrastructure.
The measures, he explained, are intended to create a more predictable and secure environment for investors while ensuring that the infrastructure supporting Nigeria’s digital economy can withstand growing cyber threats.
With cloud computing and artificial intelligence driving demand for larger amounts of computing power and data storage, the discussion highlighted the need for Nigeria to move beyond simply generating digital demand and build the physical infrastructure capable of supporting it.
The panel featured Ike Nnamani of Digital Realty Nigeria, Wole Abu of Equinix, Temitope Osunrinde of Africa Hyperscalers and Cherotich Kiereini of Oracle, alongside the NITDA Director General.
