By Chimezie Godfrey
Nigeria has taken a major step towards building a sovereign digital economy infrastructure following a strategic partnership between the National Information Technology Development Agency and the International Data Center Authority aimed at driving large-scale digital infrastructure deployment across the country.
The agreement, signed in Abuja, is expected to support the implementation of Nigeria’s Sovereign Cloud initiative and position the country as a leading digital economy hub in Africa.
Under the arrangement, NITDA and IDCA will collaborate with local and international ecosystem players to develop an execution-driven and investment-focused national digital infrastructure programme designed to accelerate economic diversification, innovation and technology-driven growth.
At the centre of the initiative is the proposed “Nigeria Digital Triangle,” a network of strategically located hyperscale, artificial intelligence-enabled data centre clusters expected to serve as the backbone of Nigeria’s emerging digital economy.
The infrastructure ecosystem is expected to host global cloud services, enterprise workloads and digital platforms while strengthening Nigeria’s capacity in data sovereignty and digital service delivery.
The programme is structured around four key pillars, including the development of a national digital economy masterplan, deployment of interconnected hyperscale infrastructure hubs, establishment of national digital standards aligned with global best practices and implementation of a workforce development framework aimed at strengthening local digital capacity.
Speaking on the initiative, the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, described the partnership as a defining moment in Nigeria’s economic transformation agenda.
“This initiative represents a defining moment in Nigeria’s economic transformation, reaffirming the government’s commitment to advancing the Digital Economy and Data Sovereignty Agenda,” Inuwa said.
He added that the partnership would help accelerate infrastructure growth, job creation, innovation and global competitiveness through investments in digital infrastructure, entrepreneurship, talent development and artificial intelligence.
Chairman of IDCA, Mehdi Paryavi, described Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy with enormous digital transformation potential.
“This is more than a national initiative — it is a platform for long-term economic value creation,” he said.
According to him, the integration of digital infrastructure, standards, investment and talent development would position Nigeria competitively within the global digital economy.
Chief Research Officer of IDCA, Roger Strukhoff, said the initiative marked a decisive step towards making Nigeria a regional digital powerhouse.
Similarly, Global Head of Strategic Services and Head of Europe and Africa at IDCA, Solomon Edun, said the programme was designed to convert Nigeria’s digital vision into measurable economic outcomes through infrastructure deployment, investment attraction and skills development.
Also speaking, Acting Director of Regulations and Compliance, Emmanuel Edet, stressed the importance of nationally endorsed digital standards and regulatory consistency in sustaining long-term digital infrastructure growth.
According to the parties, the initiative will be implemented over a three-year period with structured engagements involving government agencies, private sector players and international partners.
The partnership reinforces Nigeria’s broader commitment to leveraging digital infrastructure, cloud technologies and artificial intelligence as drivers of economic integration, innovation and global competitiveness.
Nigeria Targets AI-Powered Digital Economy With New Sovereign Cloud, Hyperscale Infrastructure Deal
