NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi has outlined the rationale and structure of Nigeria’s Sovereign Cloud Initiative (NSCI) during an appearance on the TVC Breakfast Show.

Explaining the programme to a national audience, Inuwa said the initiative was a matter of national necessity rather than a policy preference. He linked it directly to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and, in particular, priority number seven of the President’s eight-point plan, which focuses on accelerating national diversification through digitalisation and innovation.

“Our life today, our economy, our society, everything depends on this technology,” Inuwa said. “So the initiative is about we as a nation, building our capacity for digital self-determination.”

He described connectivity and computing capacity as the foundations of a functioning digital economy, while arguing that Nigeria currently lacks meaningful domestic control over both. The NSCI is intended to address that gap.

The National Sovereign Cloud Initiative is not a single platform or product. It is a national programme coordinated by NITDA to establish a secure, resilient and competitive cloud ecosystem. The programme is designed to protect Nigeria’s critical digital assets while creating opportunities for private-sector participation and international investment.

Much of the cloud infrastructure currently supporting Nigerian businesses, government agencies, startups and financial institutions is located outside the country, including in Europe, the United States and South Africa. Government systems, bank transactions and citizen data handled through digital services therefore largely depend on foreign infrastructure. The NSCI is intended to shift more of that capacity to Nigeria.

Inuwa has characterised the approach as building “data refineries” locally. The stated objectives include reducing the capital flowing from Nigeria to foreign cloud platforms, creating domestic jobs and allowing Nigerians to pay for digital services in naira rather than dollars.

The initiative is organised around six pillars: policy and regulation; funding; infrastructure; skills; innovation and local content; and cybersecurity.

Formal implementation began on August 4, 2026, after the signing of four regulatory instruments: the National Cloud Computing Guideline, the National Cloud Technical Guideline, the National Digital Infrastructure Assurance Framework and the National Cloud Investment Strategy.

NITDA plans to operationalise a national digital regulatory platform by October 2026. The platform is expected to support the onboarding, assessment, certification and regulation of cloud and digital infrastructure providers operating in Nigeria. These regulatory and infrastructure milestones will be central to assessing how the initiative moves from policy framework to operating cloud capacity.

The Federal Government has set a target of attracting $750 million in investment over the next two years to develop the required infrastructure. The goal is to position Nigeria as a digital gateway for West and Central Africa, serving its 230 million citizens and the surrounding region.

Energy is another significant consideration. Data centres in Nigeria already consume approximately 1.3 gigawatts of electricity, nearly equivalent to the entire power capacity of Lagos State. NITDA has called for innovative power solutions alongside the deployment of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Framework, which is intended to extend the benefits of AI across sectors and income levels.

Throughout his public explanations of the initiative, Inuwa has emphasised that digital sovereignty does not mean digital isolation. The NSCI is intended to attract international investment and deepen global technology partnerships, rather than exclude foreign companies.

Nigeria’s stated ambition is to become a host and full partner in its own digital economy instead of remaining a passive consumer of infrastructure built, owned and controlled elsewhere. For users, the change may not immediately be visible on a phone or computer. If implemented, however, more of the infrastructure supporting those digital experiences would be located in Nigeria, governed by Nigerian standards and accountable to Nigerian institutions.

Source: TechNext24

NITDA reference on X: https://x.com/NITDANigeria/status/2099119173603377518