Nigeria is partnering with Big Tech companies and hyperscalers to build hyperscale data centers as part of efforts to secure data sovereignty, according to Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
Speaking at the 3rd Biennial Corporate Governance and Enterprise Development Conference in Lagos, Abdullahi said, “Today we don’t have data sovereignty; our data is on social media, Google, Microsoft and others, and they decide what we see, what we believe, and what we buy.”
He explained that NITDA is pursuing a Cloud First strategy, backed by laws to attract hyperscalers, strengthen infrastructure, and grow local talent. The agency is also building large language models to reflect Nigerian culture, values, and priorities in AI systems.
“Nigeria is developing its own large language models and building systems that consider societal priorities, including data classification to determine what must remain in-country versus what can be hosted on public cloud platforms,” Abdullahi said.
He further disclosed that NITDA is establishing at least 1,600 ICT centres nationwide, having already set up 222 facilities in two years.
Abdullahi stressed that Nigeria is being repositioned as a hub for AI and data infrastructure in Africa, adding that regulation must be guided by “regulatory intelligence and practical use cases” rather than outdated frameworks.
