Amid surging internet consumption and rising demand for localised cloud services, Nigeria’s data centre operators are committing over $630 million to expand infrastructure and close the country’s capacity gap.
Between 2019 and January 2025, Nigeria’s average monthly internet usage ballooned by 699.79 percent, reaching over 1 million terabytes, according to industry data. The explosive growth has been fuelled by a sharp rise in digital service adoption, particularly streaming platforms and social media usage.
This unprecedented demand is prompting major telecom operators and data centre firms to accelerate investments. MTN Nigeria and Airtel, which jointly account for nearly 86 percent of the country’s mobile subscribers, are leading the charge.
In March 2024, Airtel commenced construction of a hyperscale data centre in Lagos to improve access speeds and reduce data management costs. By June, MTN Nigeria unveiled plans for a Tier-4, 1,500-rack data centre designed to meet soaring data needs.
“Our facility will provide the space and services needed, enabling companies to digitalise their operations and improve efficiency,” said Mohammed Rufai, CEO of MTN Congo-Brazzaville and former CTO of MTN Nigeria.
Data centres, the critical infrastructure that underpins modern digital economies, offer secure environments for storing, processing, and managing data. They also localise global content from tech giants such as Meta and Google, reducing exposure to internet disruptions like the 2024 undersea cable outage that crippled services across West Africa.
To fortify Nigeria’s digital resilience, top players including Equinix, RackCentre, and Open Access Data Centres (OADC) are rolling out aggressive expansion plans.
Equinix, formerly MainOne, is investing $140 million to grow its footprint across Southern Nigeria. The firm plans to launch Equinix LG3, its third Lagos facility, and Equinix PR1, its first in Port Harcourt.
“Data centres are pivotal to Nigeria’s economic development, driving digital transformation and growth,” said Wole Abu, Managing Director of Equinix West Africa.
OADC, for its part, is pumping $240 million into expanding its Lagos facility to 24 megawatts by 2027. The site currently runs at 1.5MW and houses the landing station for Google’s Equiano subsea cable.
RackCentre has also joined the race with the commissioning of a new 12MW AI-focused data centre, complementing its existing 1.5MW capacity.
“Cloudification and digitalisation are now global realities, and Nigeria is no different,” said Lars Johannisson, CEO of RackCentre.
Further investments include Kasi Cloud Limited’s $250 million hyperscale facility in Lekki and Visa’s planned data centre—both aimed at boosting Nigeria’s digital infrastructure.
Despite these strides, Nigeria still lags behind African peers such as South Africa and Kenya. With just 16 data centres, industry stakeholders estimate a capacity shortfall worth at least $600 million.
According to Africa Data Centres, South Africa is expected to attract the lion’s share of the projected $5 billion in African data centre investments by 2026.
“We must build more data centres to bring storage and processing closer to Africa. That’s how we drive consumption, improve lives, and transform businesses,” said Ayotunde Coker, Managing Director of OADC.
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and low-latency applications is also reshaping demand patterns.
“AI is no longer a buzzword. It requires 10 to 20 times more processing power than standard services,” noted Ezekiel Egboye, COO of RackCentre.
Johannisson added, “The demand for data centres is growing, and Nigeria is moving in the right direction.”
