In response to skyrocketing internet consumption and the rising demand for localized cloud infrastructure, Nigeria’s data centre operators have committed over $630 million to boost capacity and strengthen digital resilience. This investment marks a significant step in closing the country’s estimated $600 million data centre infrastructure gap.

As of January 2025, Nigeria’s average monthly internet usage has surged by 699.79 percent since 2019, reaching over 1 million terabytes. This growth is driven by increasing digital adoption, especially in streaming, social media, and cloud-based platforms, all of which underscore the need for robust data infrastructure and compliance-focused digital services.

Telecom giants MTN Nigeria and Airtel, which together hold 85.9 percent of Nigeria’s mobile market, are leading the charge in data centre investments. In March 2024, Airtel began construction of a hyperscale data centre in Lagos to enhance digital service delivery and reduce operational costs. By mid-2024, MTN Nigeria unveiled a 1,500-rack Tier 4 data centre, designed to support the country’s rapidly growing data requirements.

According to Mohammed Rufai, former CTO of MTN Nigeria and now CEO of MTN Congo-Brazzaville, “Our facility will enable businesses to digitalise operations, enhance compliance workflows, and boost efficiency.”

Data centres serve as critical infrastructure in digital economies, offering secure data storage, processing, and regulatory-compliant services. By localising content from global players like Meta and Google, they also provide a buffer against widespread outages—such as the undersea cable disruptions that hit West Africa in early 2024.

In a bid to improve regulatory compliance, data privacy, and risk mitigation, major players including Equinix, RackCentre, and Open Access Data Centres (OADC) have rolled out aggressive expansion strategies. Equinix, formerly MainOne, is investing $140 million to expand across southern Nigeria. It is set to launch its third Lagos facility, Equinix LG3, and its first in Port Harcourt, Equinix PR1.

Wole Abu, Managing Director of Equinix West Africa, emphasized, “Data centres are the backbone of economic development, supporting regulatory frameworks, compliance audits, and digital transformation.”

OADC, meanwhile, is scaling its Lagos operations to 24MW by 2027, backed by a $240 million investment. Their facility, the landing point for Google’s Equiano subsea cable, is key to Nigeria’s growing role in regional connectivity.

RackCentre recently commissioned a 12MW AI-optimized data centre, complementing its original 1.5MW installation. CEO Lars Johannisson noted, “Cloudification and digitalisation are redefining how Nigeria operates, and our infrastructure must keep pace with global compliance and security standards.”

Additional expansion efforts include Kasi Cloud Limited’s $250 million hyperscale data centre in Lekki and Visa’s forthcoming local data centre initiative. These projects signal growing confidence in Nigeria’s data economy and align with global regulatory technology trends.

Despite having 16 data centres, Nigeria still lags behind South Africa and Kenya in infrastructure. According to Africa Data Centres, South Africa is expected to receive the majority of the $5 billion projected to enter Africa’s data centre market by 2026.

Ayotunde Coker, Managing Director of OADC, stated, “We must build more data centres to support regulatory compliance, ensure business continuity, and localize data governance.”

The rising demand for AI, high-performance computing, and low-latency services is further accelerating this trend. “AI now demands 10 to 20 times the processing power of traditional systems,” said Ezekiel Egboye, COO of RackCentre.

Johannisson added, “Nigeria is heading in the right direction. The growth in data centres is essential for meeting both user demand and stringent regulatory requirements.”