Nigeria’s Data Centre Ecosystem Is Still Not Equipped To Support True, Large-Scale AI Workloads-Nnamani
By Clifford Agugoesi, Editor-in-Chief
Nigeria’s National AI Strategy (NAIS) sets a path to achieve the vision “To be a global leader in AI, leveraging ethical and inclusive innovation, local talent, and strategic collaboration to drive sustainable development.” But the salient question to raise at this point is: Does Nigeria have enough electricity to support its own digital economy nay AI ambitions? The answer to this puzzle was provided at the maiden edition of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association of Nigeria(NITRA) CEO Breakfast Roundtable, which took place at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos, south west, Nigeria.
No is the resounding verdict. Regardless of the global surge in Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption, Nigeria’s data centre ecosystem is still not equipped to support true, large-scale AI workloads, revealing a yawning gap industry experts posit could potentially snag the Nigeria’s competitiveness in the emerging digital economy.
CEO of Digital Realty Nigeria, Engr. Ike Nnamani, a former President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria(ATCON), bared this reality at the roundtable. Dr. Nnamani explained that while Nigeria currently boasted data centre infrastructure capable of supporting cloud services, none of the existing facilities were built with core AI applications in mind.
As per Nnamani, Nigeria already had a vibrant AI community, with over 300 professionals actively building tools, selling services, and experimenting with advanced technologies, yet the country lacked the infrastructure required to power the heavy computational demand of modern AI systems.
Said he: “Core AI needs a completely different class of infrastructure.” “We’re talking about facilities designed from the ground up with liquid cooling, massive power capacity, and specialised hardware. That’s not what we have today,” he added.
Nnamani noted that global operators like Digital Realty and Equinix were better positioned to deliver these next-generation AI-ready data centers due to their expertise and financial muscle. He mentioned Digital Realty’s South African subsidiary, TerraCo-a company that recently built one of Africa’s largest AI-ready facilities, complete with advanced cooling and high IT load capacity, as a sterling example
Nnamani says that it will take Nigeria at least two to three years to have such infrastructure locally adding until then, most core AI workloads will continue to be processed outside the country.
The MD/CEO of the Anambra State Information and Communication Technology Agency(ANSICTA) Chukwemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. , agrees with Nnamani. “What Digital Realty has done is quite impressive. Nigeria lacks the capacity to play leadership role in AI due to enormous power challenges,” said Agbata..
Beyond AI readiness, Nnamani also spoke about Digital Realty’s ongoing investments in Nigeria following ecdysis from Medallion Communications. He revealed that several infrastructure upgrades, including internal road construction, were necessary to support subsea cable projects and ensure uninterrupted data traffic into the country.
Nnamani emphasised that these projects, though unusual for a global data centre operator, were critical for Nigeria’s digital transformation and had contributed to job creation and community development.
He hinted that Digital Realty was already planning additional facilities in Nigeria, including hyperscale data centres capable of supporting the next wave of AI and high-compute applications.
It remains to be seen whether the projected two years are enough to generate, transmit and distribute the required power to enable Nigeria achieve her digital economy ambitions, but Nnamani and Agbata believe with collaboration between the public and private sectors, these could be achieved.
