85% of Nigerian workloads run on public clouds as government pushes localisation

Nigeria is actively working to increase its cloud infrastructure within the country to reduce dependence on overseas systems and boost the digital economy. According to Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), over 85% of Nigerian workloads now run on public clouds. However, only 22% of Nigeria's 1,000 most-accessed websites are hosted locally, falling short of the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 34%.

The National Sovereign Cloud Initiative aims to formalize this effort, with regulatory instruments signed with Galaxy Backbone Limited on August 5, 2026. This framework sets out policy, technical, and quality requirements for hosting more digital services in Nigeria. The move is part of Nigeria's Cloud First Policy, which encourages government agencies to shift away from costly standalone server rooms and data centres towards cloud-based services.

While the policy has led to an increase in public cloud usage, it has also resulted in a lack of expansion in local cloud infrastructure, raising concerns about the economic value generated by Nigeria's digital economy being captured outside the country. Expanding the domestic cloud and data centre market could keep more of the country's $850 million annual capital flight within Nigeria, create high-value jobs, and enhance service resilience.