KEY POINTS

• Nigeria’s new cloud policy targets $750 million in private investment within 24 months, and $250 million in year one.
• It rests on four pillars, keeps an open, multi-provider market, and applies sovereignty rules only to sensitive government data.
• NITDA, Galaxy Backbone and the Bureau of Public Procurement will lead delivery under a 24-month roadmap.

The Federal Government has unveiled a National Digital Cloud Policy that aims to draw $750 million in private investment into Nigeria’s cloud and data infrastructure within 24 months.

The Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy launched the policy on Monday. Moreover, it targets $250 million in the first year, then lifts the goal to $750 million by the end of the second, while also aiming to create jobs and position Nigeria as a regional hosting hub.

What the policy sets out to do

According to the ministry, the framework rests on four pillars: investment and market development, regional digital services exports, government cloud transformation, and digital sovereignty and security. Furthermore, it keeps the cloud market open, competitive and multi-provider rather than tying it to a single operator.

Minister Bosun Tijani said Nigeria must shift from consuming global cloud infrastructure to hosting the infrastructure, investment, skills and services that will shape the next phase of the digital economy. Still, he stressed that the policy avoids general data localisation for commercial data, and instead applies sovereignty rules only to defined categories of government and regulated data.

How the government plans to deliver Nigeria cloud policy

To spur investment, Tijani said the government would pool cloud demand from registered providers and offer shared services, which should cut duplication, win better terms and create predictable demand. In addition, it will set up a National Digital Marketplace for coordinated procurement, backed by dedicated cloud budgets and an anchor-capacity mechanism.

Consequently, NITDA will handle regulation and standards, Galaxy Backbone will lead operational delivery, and the Bureau of Public Procurement will keep the process aligned with procurement rules. Under the 24-month roadmap, the state will spend the first six months on activation and baseline work, then operationalise the marketplace and migrate ministries, before scaling capacity, onboarding states and pushing digital exports across ECOWAS and the wider African market. Furthermore, the plan complements Project BRIDGE, which would lay at least 90,000 kilometres of fibre, and the 3 Million Technical Talent programme building cloud, AI and cybersecurity skills.