The Federal Government has invested more than N3.8 trillion in information technology infrastructure since 2023.

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Inuwa, made this disclosure.

Inuwa made the disclosure during an interview with TVC News, where he discussed the government’s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative and its efforts to strengthen local capacity in cloud computing, data centres and other digital infrastructure.

He said the scale of the government’s existing investment in IT infrastructure presents an opportunity to deepen funding for local digital infrastructure while creating greater demand for cloud computing and data-centre services in Nigeria.

According to Inuwa, government data showed that more than N3.8 trillion had been invested in IT infrastructure to date.

“Based on data from 2023 to date, the government invested over N3.8 trillion in IT infrastructure,” he said.

According to him, the government can use the investment to strengthen domestic digital capacity instead of allowing IT spending to remain fragmented across various government agencies.

“Imagine channeling that investment into building local capacity,” Inuwa said.

He said the government had adopted a Cloud-First strategy, which would discourage ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) from setting up standalone data centres and server rooms, while encouraging them to migrate their operations to cloud infrastructure.

“Government has agreed to adopt a Cloud-First strategy, meaning MDAs will be discouraged from building standalone data centers or server rooms and required to move to the cloud,” he said.

He said the government was also providing policy and regulatory certainty to foreign hyperscalers and other technology companies seeking to establish infrastructure in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen its local cloud and digital infrastructure have gained momentum through a series of regulatory and policy initiatives.