The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has unveiled the regulatory instruments for the National Sovereignty Cloud Initiative (NSCI), a major step aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s digital sovereignty and accelerating the growth of the country’s digital economy.
The NSCI, a strategic Federal Government programme coordinated by NITDA, is designed to boost Nigeria’s adoption of secure and reliable cloud infrastructure. The initiative comprises the National Computing Guideline, the National Cloud Technical Guideline, the National Digital Infrastructure Assurance Framework, and the National Cloud Investment Strategy.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony in Abuja, NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, described the initiative as a strategic intervention to safeguard Nigeria’s digital future, saying the regulatory instruments would provide the certainty, technical standards, and assurance framework needed to build a trusted cloud ecosystem that promotes investment, innovation and economic growth.
Abdullahi noted that Nigeria must position itself as a digital infrastructure hub for West and Central Africa by investing in world-class cloud infrastructure, saying the unveiling of the instruments marks the first step towards achieving that goal.
He also commended members of the NSCI Technical Working Group and other stakeholders for their contributions to the development of the framework, stressing that effective implementation would require close collaboration among regulatory agencies.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Engr. Nadungu Gagare, said the initiative reflects the Federal Government’s commitment to protecting Nigeria’s data sovereignty while strengthening the digital economy.
He noted that keeping government data within Nigeria’s jurisdiction would enhance regulatory compliance, expand local cloud capacity, create jobs and encourage indigenous innovation. Gagare also pledged the ministry’s support in ensuring the successful implementation of the initiative across all ministries, departments and agencies.
In a goodwill message, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Olayemi Cardoso, represented by the Director of the Payment System Supervision Department, Dr. Rakiya Opemi Yusuf, described the collaboration between the CBN, NITDA and other government institutions as essential to building a secure national digital ecosystem.
Cardoso said the complementary roles of the CBN in regulating the financial system and NITDA in providing digital infrastructure and cloud governance would strengthen Nigeria’s position as Africa’s trusted hub for digital finance and cloud innovation.
Also speaking, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone Limited, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, said the initiative comes at a crucial time, particularly following the CBN’s directive requiring banks and other financial institutions to localise their data.
He expressed confidence that the NSCI would attract investment, develop indigenous talent and create employment opportunities, similar to the transformation witnessed after the deregulation of Nigeria’s telecommunications sector.
As part of the implementation plan, NITDA announced that it will establish the Sovereign Cloud Governance Committee (SovGov) within the next two weeks. The committee will comprise representatives of relevant government institutions, sector regulators and the private sector, with NITDA serving as its secretariat.
