Nigeria Unveils National Digital Cloud Policy to Drive Regional Cloud Hub Ambitions

Nigeria has unveiled a National Digital Cloud Policy aimed at transforming the country into a leading digital services export hub for West Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa while strengthening public-sector cloud adoption and data sovereignty.

The policy establishes a national framework for developing cloud and data infrastructure, attracting investment, expanding hosting capacity and improving the delivery of government digital services.

A key objective is to leverage Nigeria’s large domestic market, international submarine cable connectivity and growing technology workforce to develop a regional cloud services market. The government plans to address infrastructure challenges, particularly unreliable power supply and regulatory barriers, through targeted investment incentives.

These incentives include fiscal duty exemptions for data centre equipment and energy systems, simplified regulatory processes, assurances around capital mobility and an anchor-demand framework designed to create predictable demand for digital infrastructure.

The policy also promotes dedicated clean power generation for data centres, expansion of hosting infrastructure beyond Lagos and broader national backbone connectivity. A Technology Export and Digital Trade Desk is also proposed to support Nigeria’s participation in regional and international digital trade.

Cloud-first government

For the public sector, the policy introduces a mandatory “Cloud First” approach requiring Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to prioritise cloud deployment for new digital systems.

Existing government infrastructure will undergo phased migration to cloud environments, while public cloud procurement will be consolidated under a whole-of-government model operated by Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB).

The model is intended to leverage government-wide purchasing power, secure volume-based pricing, reduce duplicated infrastructure spending and simplify procurement through a National Digital Marketplace.

MDAs will also be required to establish dedicated recurrent budget lines for cloud services. A ringfenced Anchor Capacity Fund will provide additional support for long-term commercial commitments.

State governments and other subnational entities will be able to voluntarily participate in the government’s cloud framework agreements.

Risk-based data sovereignty

The policy introduces a risk-based approach to data sovereignty, classifying sovereign data into four levels: Classified (Level 4), Highly Sensitive (Level 3), Sensitive (Level 2) and Open (Level 1).

The highest-risk Level 4 data must be hosted exclusively on infrastructure physically located in Nigeria and under sovereign control, while Level 1 data will have no mandatory residency restrictions.

The framework is designed to balance national security and data protection requirements with the need for Nigerian businesses and government institutions to access competitive international cloud services.

Governance responsibilities are distributed among key institutions. NITDA will serve as the primary policy and regulatory authority, while GBB will act as the main infrastructure provider and aggregator. The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) will oversee procurement compliance, with a Sovereign Government Cloud Governance Committee providing strategic oversight.

24-month implementation

The policy establishes a three-phase implementation programme spanning 24 months.

The initial phase will focus on baseline audits, establishing governance structures and securing Presidential approval for sovereignty controls. This will be followed by activation of the digital marketplace and initial cloud migrations before the programme moves into full-scale regional expansion.

Progress will be assessed using key performance indicators covering areas such as private investment attracted, data-centre and hosting capacity installed, public-sector savings and the number of technical personnel certified.

The National Digital Cloud Policy supersedes the Nigeria Cloud Computing Policy 2019 and will operate alongside the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 as a key framework governing Nigeria’s cloud and digital infrastructure landscape.