The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Layer3 have called for increased investment in local digital infrastructure as Nigeria moves to strengthen cloud sovereignty and deepen participation in the global artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing ecosystem.
The Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, made the call when he received the management team of Layer3, led by its Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Oyaje Idoko, during a courtesy visit to the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
Inuwa warned that Nigeria risks being left behind in the ongoing AI and cloud-driven industrial revolution if it fails to invest strategically in local infrastructure.
He said global projections indicate that more than $30 trillion will be invested in information technology and energy infrastructure over the next 10 to 20 years to support AI and cloud services.
He stressed that Nigeria’s participation in AI development is critical, noting that the data used to train such systems determines their outcomes, adding that “AI itself is not biased; it is the data we feed it that is biased.”
The NITDA boss said the 2019 Cloud First Policy was introduced to reduce unsustainable data centre investments by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), but noted that the digital environment has evolved.
He added that over 85 per cent of Nigeria’s IT workloads still run on hyperscaler infrastructure, raising concerns about long-term digital sovereignty.
Inuwa explained that while waivers were granted to hyperscalers from 2024 due to limited local capacity, the long-term objective remains to attract them to build infrastructure within Nigeria while strengthening local players.
The Chief Executive Officer of Layer3, Oyaje Idoko, commended NITDA’s cloud sovereignty drive, describing it as timely and ambitious.
He said Nigeria previously lacked viable local cloud alternatives, leading to heavy reliance on foreign hyperscalers, but noted that Layer3 has developed a locally built cloud platform based on OpenStack with operations in Abuja and Lagos.
He added that the company is ready to partner with NITDA to strengthen Nigeria’s digital infrastructure, build local expertise, and position the country as a leader in Africa’s technology ecosystem.
