Abuja: TECHzMagazine – News Desk
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has inaugurated the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative Implementation Taskforce (NSCI-ITF) in Abuja to operationalize the country’s sovereign cloud framework and accelerate digital independence.
NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi emphasized that the initiative will secure critical national data, deepen local capacity, and drive digital transformation across finance, healthcare, education, and manufacturing. A primary near-term focus is helping financial institutions meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) January 1, 2027 cloud compliance deadline.
To facilitate this, NITDA will launch a dedicated certification portal by October to vet cloud infrastructure providers, service providers, and integrators. Regulators will also deploy monitoring mechanisms to independently verify that sovereign financial and national data remains strictly hosted within Nigeria’s borders.
Beyond compliance, the initiative is designed to spur foreign direct investment in local data centers, reduce foreign exchange capital flight, lower digital latency, and retain domestic tech talent by expanding high-value local employment opportunities.
