Powering Africa’s Digital Core: NITDA Boss Outlines Vision for Data Centre Investment

Powering Africa’s Digital Core: NITDA Boss Outlines Vision for Data Centre Investment

AJAGBE ADEYEMI TESLIM

SPONSORED BY: H&H
In a powerful contribution to a high-level industry panel on converting digital demand into data centre investment, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Kashifu Inuwa, has outlined Nigeria’s strategic playbook for unlocking the next wave of tech infrastructure capital.

Speaking at a high-level industry panel on “Converting Digital Demand into Data Centre Investment” during the just concluded ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026 alongside Ike Nnamani of Digital Realty Nigeria, Wole Abu of Equinix, Temitope Osunrinde of Africa Hyperscalers and Cherotich Kiereini of Oracle, Inuwa emphasised that translating the nation’s skyrocketing digital footprint into bankable, sustainable investments requires a deliberate mix of government direction, regulatory certainty, and secure ecosystems.

At the heart of the government’s approach is a commitment to providing absolute policy clarity. According to Inuwa, the primary responsibility of 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.

By giving investors full regulatory certainty, operators can build with confidence, knowing precisely how infrastructure will be deployed, governed, and consumed across the market.

Highlighting Nigeria’s unique advantages, Inuwa noted that the nation’s value extends far beyond its vast population. The focus is now on capturing the growing market demand created by localised digital workloads and leveraging Nigeria’s natural geography as the ultimate transit and connectivity hub for West and Central Africa. Driven by a deep pool of local tech talent capable of building innovative solutions directly on top of modern digital networks, the nation is primed to host the region’s digital future.

To sustain this momentum, NITDA is embedding digital trust at the core of national development through robust cybersecurity frameworks. Inuwa detailed how initiatives like the Digital Assurance Framework, the Cybercrime Act, and the broader National Cybersecurity Architecture are building end-to-end security across every layer of the digital chain. From individual last-mile devices to critical national infrastructure, government IT projects are now subject to strict cybersecurity-by-design clearances. Through these targeted policy measures and collaborative security standards, Nigeria is laying down the predictable foundation needed to power the next generation of data centres, cloud, and artificial intelligence infrastructure.