The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi has emphasised the significance of the national cloud policy which he said promotes cloud adoption across government institutions and prioritises the hosting of government data in Nigeria.
Speaking when he participated at the closing keynote panel session at the Datacloud Global Congress 2026 held in Cannes, France, he said the Nigerian government had established a Technical Working Group comprising ecosystem players, industry stakeholders, and hyperscalers to guide country’s sovereign cloud adoption agenda, develop technical standards, strengthen governance frameworks, and mobilise investments required to accelerate trusted cloud infrastructure development.
The high-level discussion, on the topic: The Role of Digital Infrastructure in National Economies was moderated by the International Data Center Authority’s (IDCA) Chairman & CEO, Mehdi Paryavi, which explored the role of digital infrastructure in economic growth, AI strategy, digital sovereignty, workforce development, and national competitiveness.
The session featured distinguished speakers including Ali Amur Al Shidhani, Undersecretary for Communications and Information Technology, Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT), Oman, Buddy Rizer, and the Chief Development Officer at IDCA.
Inuwa stressed the need for increased investments in data centres, cloud infrastructure, broadband connectivity, and emerging technologies to unlock Nigeria’s digital economy ambitions and position the country as a leading digital hub in Africa.
He noted that expanding broadband penetration, advancing artificial intelligence development, and deliberate policy implementation remain critical to accelerating innovation, enabling scalable digital services, and driving economic transformation.
The NITDA boss also showcased Nigeria’s comparative advantages as an emerging digital investment destination, citing the country’s large and youthful population, vibrant innovation ecosystem, resilient entrepreneurial culture, growing digital talent base, and ongoing reforms aimed at creating an enabling environment for digital infrastructure investments.
The Datacloud Global Congress convenes policymakers, investors, hyperscalers, cloud providers, data centre operators, and digital infrastructure stakeholders from around the world to shape the future of global digital infrastructure and investment.
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