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The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has outlined Nigeria’s strategy to attract more investment into data centres and build the digital infrastructure required to support the country’s rapidly expanding technology ecosystem.
Inuwa spoke during a high-level industry panel titled “Converting Digital Demand into Data Centre Investment” at the recently concluded ITW Data Cloud Africa 2026.
The panel featured leading industry players, including Ike Nnamani of Digital Realty Nigeria, Wole Abu of Equinix, Temitope Osunrinde of Africa Hyperscalers and Cherotich Kiereini of Oracle.
Inuwa said converting Nigeria’s growing digital demand into sustainable and bankable infrastructure investments would require a deliberate combination of clear government policies, regulatory certainty and secure digital ecosystems.
According to him, government’s primary responsibility is to provide clarity around its strategic direction and establish a stable policy environment that gives investors the confidence to commit capital to digital infrastructure.
He said regulatory certainty would enable infrastructure operators to make long-term investment decisions with a clear understanding of how digital infrastructure would be deployed, governed and consumed across the Nigerian market.
The NITDA boss said Nigeria’s investment proposition extends beyond its large population, noting that the country is witnessing growing demand for localised digital workloads while its geographical position gives it the potential to serve as a major transit and connectivity hub for West and Central Africa.
He also pointed to Nigeria’s expanding pool of technology talent as a strategic advantage, noting that local professionals are increasingly capable of developing innovative solutions on top of modern digital networks.
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Inuwa stressed that cybersecurity and digital trust must remain central to the expansion of the country’s digital infrastructure.
He highlighted NITDA’s Digital Assurance Framework, the Cybercrime Act and the broader National Cybersecurity Architecture as key components of Nigeria’s efforts to establish stronger security across the digital ecosystem.
According to him, cybersecurity is increasingly being integrated into government technology projects from the design stage, with IT projects subjected to cybersecurity-by-design clearances.
He said the approach is designed to provide end-to-end protection across the digital chain, from last-mile devices to critical national infrastructure.
The comments come at a time when demand for computing power, data storage and connectivity is increasing rapidly, driven by the expansion of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, fintech and other digital services.
For Nigeria, the challenge is increasingly moving beyond encouraging digital adoption to ensuring that sufficient infrastructure is available to support that growth.
Inuwa said the combination of policy clarity, regulatory predictability, connectivity, local talent and cybersecurity would create the foundation required to attract the capital needed to expand Nigeria’s data centre ecosystem.
He added that the government’s approach is aimed at creating an environment where private-sector investment can support the next generation of data centres, cloud platforms and artificial intelligence infrastructure while strengthening Nigeria’s position as a key player in Africa’s digital economy.
