Nigeria Still Lacks AI-Ready Data Centres — Digital Realty CEO Warns”

Nigeria currently has no data centre capable of supporting core Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads, according to Engr. Ike Nnamani, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty Nigeria.
He stated this at the CEO Breakfast Roundtable organised by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA).

Nnamani explained that while existing facilities can handle cloud computing, none in the country was designed for advanced AI infrastructure, which requires specialised power, cooling, and high-density compute environments.

“The closest we have today are facilities that can run cloud services. But when it comes to core AI, none of the data centres in Nigeria was designed for that,” he said.

AI adoption rising, but infrastructure far behind

Despite the infrastructure gap, Nnamani said Nigeria’s AI ecosystem is expanding quickly.
He revealed that over 300 members of a local AI association are already developing or selling AI solutions, mainly by leveraging global AI platforms.

However, he stressed that deploying high-performance AI workloads—such as large language models, deep learning clusters, or advanced inference systems—requires purpose-built AI-ready data centres.

These facilities must incorporate:

High-density GPU racks

Advanced liquid cooling systems

Reliable large-scale power supplies

High-performance networking

“We must ask: what is the plan to build AI-enabled data centres, and who has the technology and financial capacity to make it happen?” he added.

According to him, Nigeria is two to three years away from having its first AI-ready data centre. Until then, major AI applications will continue relying on infrastructure hosted overseas.

South Africa leads Africa’s AI data centre race

Nnamani highlighted South Africa’s leadership in high-performance data infrastructure.
He referenced Teraco, Digital Realty’s South African subsidiary, which recently launched an AI-ready data centre equipped with liquid cooling and high-density compute capabilities.

“One of their data centres is bigger than all the data centres in Nigeria combined in terms of IT load,” he said.

Nnamani added that Digital Realty is making plans to expand in Nigeria by building larger hyperscale facilities capable of supporting future AI workloads.

Government pushing AI, but funding remains a challenge

The Nigerian government—through the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani—continues to push an ambitious national AI agenda.

However, the State of AI Policy in Africa 2025 report warns that despite Nigeria’s leadership in West Africa’s AI policy framework, a major funding gap threatens the country’s AI ambitions.

The report notes that without substantial domestic investment in infrastructure, Nigeria may struggle to compete with regional leaders in AI deployment and innovation.