Cloud providers in Nigeria must now follow new sovereign data rules

Nigeria’s IT regulator has formally moved its sovereign cloud policy from the drawing board into law, signing a set of regulatory instruments that will govern how cloud providers, data centres, and public agencies handle data in the country.

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, signed three documents at a ceremony marking the start of the implementation phase of the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative (NSCI), according to a report by PRNigeria.

The signed instruments — the National Cloud Computing Guideline, the National Cloud Technical Guideline, and the National Digital Infrastructure Assurance Framework (NDIAF) — are designed to provide regulatory certainty, technical standards, and assurance mechanisms for Nigeria’s growing cloud ecosystem. NITDA also unveiled the National Cloud Investment Strategy, a roadmap for attracting sustainable investment into data centres, sovereign computing, and AI infrastructure.

From policy design to implementation

Abdullahi said the signing concludes the policy development phase of the NSCI and begins a phased implementation programme that will be executed with government institutions, regulators, academia, industry, and the private sector. He also announced plans to operationalise a national digital regulatory platform before October 2026, as reported by Technology Times.

The NSCI is a federal government programme coordinated by NITDA to strengthen Nigeria’s digital sovereignty and accelerate the adoption of trusted cloud infrastructure. The initiative builds on the original Nigeria Cloud Computing Policy issued in August 2019, which set initial cloud adoption rules for public-sector agencies. Updated frameworks published in 2025, including the National Cloud Policy 2025, codify updated sovereign cloud governance and establish a Sovereign Cloud Governance Committee to oversee enforcement.

The National Cloud Technical Document includes requirements such as in-country encryption and key management, attestation of capability to securely host all data classes within Nigeria, and a board-approved roadmap to achieve full certification within 24 months.

Who is driving the rules

Nigeria has inaugurated a Technical Working Group for NSCI, led by NITDA, that includes senior figures from major global and local tech firms. The broader group is co-chaired by Ike Nnamani, CEO of Digital Realty Nigeria, and Nonye Ujam, Government Affairs Lead at Microsoft. The Technical and Infrastructure Subcommittee is chaired by Oluwasayo Oshadami of Equinix West Africa, with Dewole Ajao of Google as deputy chair. The Policy and Regulatory Subcommittee is led by Ikechukwu John Ibeawuchi of Cisco and Morayo Adebayo-Adisa of Mastercard.

NITDA has also held direct engagements with hyperscalers. Abdullahi hosted Charles Murito, Google’s Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa, to discuss cloud adoption, AI frameworks, and NSCI progress, the agency posted on its website.

This work has been underway since at least November 2024, when NITDA convened a two-day National Sovereign Cloud Infrastructure Workshop in Abuja, bringing together government institutions, indigenous providers, hyperscalers, and regulators. A summary of the workshop document shows recommendations included reviewing the Cloud First Policy and developing a Data Classification Guideline with clear definitions of sovereign data and data residency.

What is next for the cloud ecosystem

The new regime positions Nigeria as a regional hub for trusted digital infrastructure under the African Continental Free Trade Area and is linked to a planned Nigeria Digital Triangle, a network of hyperscale and AI-enabled data centre clusters being developed under a NITDA–International Data Centre Authority alliance.