Nigeria Targets $750M Private Cloud Investment in 24 Months
The Federal Government unveils a National Digital Cloud Policy to attract $750m in private cloud and AI infrastructure investment within two years.
Nigeria's Federal Government on Monday unveiled a National Digital Cloud Policy designed to attract $750 million in private investment into cloud, data centre and AI compute infrastructure within 24 months.
The policy, announced by Dr Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, positions cloud and data infrastructure as foundational to artificial intelligence, financial services, digital government, healthcare, education and the wider digital economy, according to Vanguard.
The framework sets an interim target of $250 million in private investment within the first 12 months. It is built around four components: investment and market development, regional digital services exports, government cloud transformation, and digital sovereignty and security, while maintaining an open, competitive, multi-provider cloud market.
The Federal Government plans to establish a National Digital Marketplace for coordinated procurement of cloud and digital infrastructure services, with dedicated cloud budget arrangements and an anchor-capacity mechanism to support demand aggregation. A 24-month roadmap has been outlined in phases: the first six months will focus on policy activation, baseline assessments and institutional arrangements; months six to twelve on operationalising the National Digital Marketplace and priority migration of ministries, departments and agencies; and months twelve to twenty-four on scaling migration, expanding capacity, onboarding states and accelerating digital service exports.
The announcement comes as part of a broader push under the ministry to harmonise digital regulation. In July 2026, Tijani directed the NCC, NITDA and NDPC to defer enforcement of regulations affecting internet platforms and cross-cutting digital economy matters pending a policy harmonisation exercise, as Nairametrics reported.
The ministry has also emphasised a cautious "cloud-first" approach for public institutions to avoid over-reliance on on-premise systems while protecting digital sovereignty and critical national data, according to Northern View.
The policy enters a continental space where South Africa already operates a National Data and Cloud Policy under its Electronic Communications Act, as noted in coverage aggregated by NewsNow.
The cloud policy is the compute layer of an integrated digital economy stack the ministry has been assembling. It connects to Project BRIDGE, a Special Purpose Vehicle deploying at least 90,000 km of fibre optic cables as a core national backbone, alongside 3,700 telecom towers and satellite upgrades. Project BRIDGE carries an estimated $2 billion investment, projected to create up to 20,000 direct jobs and more than 150,000 indirect jobs, train 5,000 youths and lift internet penetration above 70%, as Vanguard reported in April.
The talent layer is the 3MTT programme, launched in October 2023, which has already trained over 117,000 Nigerians in digital skills, surpassing an initial 30,000 target and aiming ultimately at three million technical talents, according to programme documents on NITDA's 3MTT portal.
Local hosting capacity has been a focus for the ministry. Recent commissioning of data centre and cloud hosting facilities backed by FMCIDE was positioned as part of reducing dependence on foreign hosting and supporting Project BRIDGE and 3MTT, as Business Post reported.
In the announcement, Tijani framed the policy as a deliberate break from Nigeria's position as a net importer of digital infrastructure.
"Nigeria must move from being primarily a consumer of global cloud infrastructure to becoming a competitive location for the infrastructure, investment, skills and digital services that will define the next phase of the global digital economy."
He also tied the policy to the broader continental agenda: "Building on the momentum forged through the implementation of Project BRIDGE, our national blueprint for expanding digital infrastructure and connecting communities across Nigeria, our aspiration ahead of this year's edition is clear: to solidify the foundations Africa needs for digital sovereignty, technological self-determination, and a globally competitive AI-powered economy."
For Nigerian startups, fintechs and AI firms, the policy could mean more local availability of high-quality compute, lower latency for users on the continent, and potentially more favourable pricing and regulatory alignment compared to hosting in Europe or North America. The explicit link to AI, financial services, healthcare and education covers the verticals where Nigerian and African startups are most active.
The next test is execution. Watch the first six months for policy activation and baseline assessments, then the operationalising of the National Digital Marketplace. The $250 million 12-month investment target will be the earliest concrete signal of whether private capital follows the framework.
