FG Targets $750m Investment With New National Digital Cloud Policy

By Adedapo Adesanya

The federal government has unveiled the National Digital Cloud Policy, a framework designed to strengthen Nigeria’s digital infrastructure and drive the next phase of economic growth.

The policy implementation has an investment target of $750 million over the next 24 months.

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, disclosed this on Tuesday, noting that the effort aims to further strengthen the transformation of Nigeria’s digital economy.

According to the ministry, through the implementation of the policy, the government’s initial ambition is to mobilise $250 million in private investment within the first 12 months.

The investment will rise to $750 million within 24 months, alongside progressive increases in compliant hosting capacity and the development of Nigeria’s regional cloud export market.

Mr Tijani explained that cloud and data infrastructure are now foundational to artificial intelligence, financial services, digital government, healthcare, education and the wider digital economy.

The minister said Nigeria’s ambition is to ensure that the country moves beyond being primarily a consumer of global cloud infrastructure to becoming a competitive location for cloud investment, infrastructure, skills and digital services serving Nigeria and the wider African market.

According to him, the policy creates an open and competitive framework designed to attract investment into cloud, data centre, and AI compute infrastructure.

It will accelerate the government’s transition to secure, efficient cloud services and strengthen its capacity to host and export digital services across Africa.

“Our approach is deliberately open and investment-oriented. We want Nigerian and international providers to invest, build capacity, develop talent and serve both the Nigerian market and the wider African continent from Nigeria.

“At the same time, government has a responsibility to ensure that its most sensitive digital assets are governed and secured in a manner consistent with our national interests.

“The National Digital Cloud Policy therefore provides a balanced framework — one that promotes investment and competition, strengthens indigenous capability, modernises government and applies sovereignty requirements only where they are genuinely necessary,” Mr Tijani added.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) will provide regulatory oversight, standards and assurance, while Galaxy Backbone (GBB) will lead operational delivery, shared infrastructure and aggregation.

Also, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) will ensure alignment with public procurement requirements.

“This separation of responsibilities is intended to provide regulatory certainty and avoid conflicts between regulatory, operational and procurement functions,” the ministry said.

A Sovereign Government Cloud Governance Committee, chaired by Mr Tijani, will provide strategic oversight and whole-of-government coordination for the implementation of the sovereignty framework.