Nigeria Pushes Sovereign Cloud to Become Digital Gateway for West, Central Africa.

Nigeria is stepping up efforts to strengthen its digital infrastructure as the Federal Government moves to develop a National Sovereign Cloud capable of positioning the country as a digital gateway for West and Central Africa.

The initiative, being coordinated by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), is designed to increase local control over critical digital infrastructure, strengthen data security and attract investment into Nigeria’s growing cloud and artificial intelligence ecosystem.

NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said the initiative is driven by the need for greater digital self-determination and a stronger local cloud ecosystem.

According to him, Nigeria’s Cloud First Policy, introduced in 2019, was intended to discourage government institutions from building separate data centres and encourage them to adopt cloud services. However, the rapid movement towards public cloud platforms has increased the need to develop more local capacity.

The new approach seeks to encourage global cloud providers to establish infrastructure within Nigeria while also strengthening indigenous data-centre and cloud-service providers.

The initiative is expected to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on infrastructure hosted outside the country, potentially lowering foreign-currency exposure associated with digital services and reducing capital outflows.

NITDA has also identified job creation and the growth of local technology businesses as potential benefits of expanding domestic cloud capacity. Increased competition among providers could also help make cloud services more affordable for startups and other businesses.

In August, NITDA signed the National Cloud Computing Guideline, National Cloud Technical Guideline and National Digital Infrastructure Assurance Framework, alongside the National Cloud Investment Strategy. The framework provides standards for cloud adoption, infrastructure assurance, digital sovereignty and investment.

The agency plans to establish a Sovereign Cloud Governance Committee to oversee implementation, while a national digital regulatory platform is expected to become operational before October 2026. The platform will facilitate the registration, assessment and certification of cloud service providers and other digital infrastructure operators.