AFRIDATA, a pan-African digital infrastructure platform, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) have signed a 1.87-million-dollar grant agreement to fund a feasibility study for a proposed data centre project in Nigeria.
The project, estimated to cost between 650 million dollars and one billion dollars, aims to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and secure digital infrastructure.
The agreement was announced on Wednesday at a ceremony and stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja to mark the formal launch of AFRIDATA Nigeria, the platform’s first phase.
The Nigerian project is part of a planned continental digital infrastructure platform valued at between two billion dollars and three billion dollars.
AFRIDATA plans to build a flagship data centre in Lagos and a second facility in Delta to provide backup services and disaster recovery support.
The feasibility study will assess the facilities’ technical and financial requirements, including electricity supply, connectivity, operational capacity and implementation options.
The Lagos facility is being designed to meet Tier IV reliability standards, with the company considering the Lagos Free Zone as a possible location.
Ezekiel Odiogo, Senior Managing Director of INFRAGORA Global Capital, said the project would strengthen Nigeria’s digital infrastructure and support economic growth across West Africa.
He said the proposed investment could create thousands of jobs for young people and women, while improving productivity and access to digital services.
USTDA Deputy Director Thomas Hardy said the agency’s support would strengthen Nigeria’s digital economy and create opportunities for American companies in the country’s expanding technology market.
Hardy stressed the importance of trusted and secure digital infrastructure as African countries prepared to deploy artificial intelligence across different sectors.
The project is expected to create direct and indirect jobs in construction, engineering, cybersecurity, data centre operations and other digital services.
