NITDA, Budget Office move Nigeria’s sovereign cloud into

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Budget Office of the Federation have inaugurated a Joint Technical Committee to drive implementation of Nigeria’s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative, shifting the programme from policy development towards the fiscal, procurement and investment decisions required to build domestic cloud infrastructure.

The committee, chaired by Budget Office Director-General Tanimu Yakubu with NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa as co-chair, will coordinate the financing and implementation architecture of the initiative.

The committee brings together representatives from public finance, procurement, investment, infrastructure, connectivity, power, cybersecurity and data governance to address the issues required to make sovereign cloud infrastructure commercially and operationally sustainable.

Inuwa said the initiative was strategically important to developing trusted domestic cloud infrastructure capable of supporting government systems, regulated sectors and other critical national workloads.

He said the programme would also create opportunities for private-sector investment and innovation, but stressed that implementation would require alignment between Nigeria’s digital infrastructure priorities and its budget, procurement, financing and investment frameworks.

NITDA said the committee would examine government ICT and cloud spending, total cost of ownership, utilisation of existing infrastructure, budget and procurement alignment, infrastructure financing, investment mobilisation and the fiscal implications of wider cloud adoption.

The latest step follows a series of policy measures introduced this month as the Federal Government moves to establish a broader framework for digital sovereignty and domestic data infrastructure.

On August 5, NITDA signed the National Cloud Computing Guideline, National Cloud Technical Guideline and National Digital Infrastructure Assurance Framework, alongside the presentation of the National Cloud Investment Strategy.

The agency said the instruments provide a structured approach to cloud adoption, infrastructure assurance, digital sovereignty and investment.

On August 18, the Federal Government also unveiled the National Digital Cloud Policy, which targets $750 million in private investment over the next 24 months for cloud and data-centre infrastructure.

The target places private capital at the centre of the government’s strategy, with the policy intended to provide greater certainty for investors entering Nigeria’s cloud and data-centre market.

The economic case is also being driven by the amount Nigerian businesses already spend on offshore cloud services.

In May, digital infrastructure company Kasi Cloud unveiled the first phase of a planned 100MW data-centre campus in Lekki, Lagos, targeting artificial intelligence workloads, enterprise cloud services and connectivity platforms.

Kasi Cloud estimated that Nigerian enterprises spend about $850 million annually on offshore cloud services, suggesting a potentially significant domestic market for locally hosted infrastructure.

The company said its LOS1 facility would provide an AI-ready alternative within Nigeria, potentially helping retain more digital spending domestically while addressing data-sovereignty concerns and reducing dependence on overseas cloud infrastructure.

For Nigeria, the sovereign cloud initiative could therefore have implications beyond technology. A stronger domestic cloud ecosystem could attract private investment, create high-skilled jobs, support AI and fintech development, improve the security of sensitive data and reduce the amount of money Nigerian businesses spend on foreign digital infrastructure.

The major test now is execution: whether the government can align public spending, procurement, power, connectivity, financing and regulation sufficiently to turn the sovereign cloud policy into commercially viable infrastructure at scale.