In its drive to ensure data sovereignty, the federal government of Nigeria has taken laudable steps to encourage and support data centres services in the country,
the executive vice chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta has said.
Danbatta made this known at the fourth Telecommunications Sector Sustainability Forum held recently in Lagos.
The forum themed; ‘Mainstreaming Data Centres in the Nigerian Digital Economy’, Danbatta cited the National Digital Economy Policy Strategy (NDEPS) Pillar #3 on Solid Infrastructure which states that; ‘the Government will Promote the Development and Deployment of robust and scalable data center infrastructure’.
He noted that the global data centre market is worth billions of dollars, saying Nigeria is well-positioned to attract a fair share of this investment.
He said “By providing a reliable and secure environment for the services they offer within a well nurtured policy and regulatory framework, Nigeria represents an attractive destination for more investment in data centre services and operations.
He continued: “The implication of such investments on jobs in the construction, operation, and maintenance of these data centres can only be imagined.With the commencement of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the role and criticality of Data centres become increasing overwhelming”.
According to EVC, the NCC has long recognized the imperatives around the sharing of critical resources within the telecoms industry, particularly in relation to recent engagements on regional roaming with the ECOWAS.
He explained that this is underscored by the Commission’s recent guidelines and framework, leading to emergence of collocation and infrastructure sharing entities such as tower companies that rest on this premise.
“The Commission has also concluded its framework, and further facilitated the test run on national roaming and active infrastructure sharing to further galvanize efficient roll out through a well coordinated network optimization and expansion strategies”.
He added that the nature and functional model of data centres with special regard to its centralized architecture, with compelling assurance provides greater guarantee against various malicious attacks and unauthorized access to sensitive information.
He reiterated the fact that mainstreaming of data centres require collective efforts to take “our own destiny in our hands through individual and sectorial supplementary feeds and enabling supports that ensures data centres not only operates to guarantee national Digital sovereignty, but are able to prioritize contents reflecting our cultural norms, contexts and ideological values, while reaping the attendant socio-economic benefits within the value chain”.
Danbatta told the audience that the Commission will continue to facilitate and support its licensees, as major stakeholders, to continue to explore additional frontiers of expansion and greater opportunities for investment within the data centre space, whilst also ensuring strict adherence to data protection regulations.
