Telecom
ICT Experts Harp On The Critical State Of Infrastructure Needs In Nigeria
Panelists at the just concluded NITRA ICT Growth Conference 2.0, have emphasized the need for an urgent review of Nigeria’s state of infrastructure so as to position the country to massively reap the benefits of a digital economy as obtained in some developed nations of the world.
Themed ‘Creating a Digital Ecosystem in Nigeria: The Hurdles, The Gains,’ the panelists drawn from both the public and private sector establishments, were of the consensus that infrastructure provisioning remained Nigeria’s surest pathway to building a robust digital economy.
At a second panel session during proceedings at the NITRA flagship technology conference held at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki Lagos, and moderated by Mr. Peter Oluka, Editor of TechEconomy.ng, the panelists agreed that efforts at building Nigeria’s digital economy cannot yield the much-desired fruit unless there is sustained commitment on the part of the government to prioritise the provision of infrastructure.
Seyi Olarenwaju, CFO of Medallion Data Centre said infrastructure is going to play a vital role in enhancing digital systems in Nigeria’s digital ecosystem, noting that “if there is no infrastructure in place, there is nothing.”
He stated that since governance has now been replaced by electioneering campaigns in preparation for the 2023 general election, the incoming administration should be focused, identify a particular infrastructure, and fix it, and expressed the hope that if in this regard, power is given priority attention, a lot of things will follow suit.
Kelechukwu Nsofor of Rack Centre, a carrier-neutral Tier III data centre who spoke from a data centre provider’s perspective, said power is the key infrastructure that drives a data centre business, describing it as basically the livewire of any data centre.
According to Nsofor, “The key infrastructure that we rely on is power. Power is basically the livewire of any data centre. Unfortunately, if you go back to 1999 since we started the current democratic dispensation in the country, what has been the installed capacity in terms of power? 20 years down the line, where are we today in terms of power?
“At a point, we were generating 1600MW, today, it’s still hovering around 3000MW. Where does that leave us as an economy of over 200 million people? So, if you look at the population growth rate and try to compare it with what we are growing in terms of power, you see that there’s a total disconnect.”
He said that Nigeria is blessed with a rich reservoir of policies and knowledge expertise but expressed worries that this has not been translated to results in the country’s power industry.
“Now, tying that to Rack Centre and indeed the data centre space, we have been generating our own power in the last nine years that we have been operating. And we’ve been fully in control of generating that power now. As we look to expand, we are also looking at ways where we can continue to generate power or do it more cost-effectively.
“We would like a situation where the government will actually stop the lip service that goes into infrastructure like power and actually start showing serious commitment by playing a major role in the provisioning of power infrastructure,” he said.
Noting that the digital economy is all about using the internet basically to push economic activities, Nsofor stated that what is critical even with the efforts at bringing in foreign direct investment, all the marine cables sitting on the coast of Lagos, is how to work with the private sector and knowledge experts basically on how to get things like multiple taxations and right of way out of the road.
“Operators can now push that capacity where it is actually needed. This will help us increase internet penetration, increase the digital economy growth, and push the economy forward,” he concluded.
In his contribution to the discourse, Babalola Olalekan of Phase 3 Telecoms admitted that the government was doing enough to provide infrastructure but stated that there was a need for stronger synergy between the government and service providers.
“There was a document released last year called Strategic Roadmap/Action Plan: A four-year plan 2021-2024. The key performance indices released in that document classified infrastructure in such categories as soft, service and hardware.
“When you look at the hardware infrastructure, we talk about how far we’ve gone in hardware infrastructure deployments like fibre cables. We talk of active devices and so on and so forth. But there’s something the government has put in place especially at the federal level by cutting down right-of-way charges all over the federation.
“Another area we have taken advantage of is the concession plan we call public-private partnership (PPP), where I expect the operators and players to key into and take advantage of our existing infrastructure, and opportunities.
“Another thing I will encourage we should be doing is a collaboration among players. All of us can only fight about a particular position or location. We can join hands on how to collaborate, leverage each other, and supply as a single network.
“So, I think the government is doing enough with policies. The onus is on us to tap into it, put more pressure on the government and be more up and doing in our collaborative efforts and take advantage of what is available to us through the government,” Olalekan said.
He said that going into the 2023 election, the most important thing to be focused on is security, stating that operators have many works to do out there in the field yet, they find it difficult to restore the network in the shortest possible time. “So, whatever government can do to make sure that our roads, our villages, our towns are secured, we will surely have a good general election.”
Chidi Okpala of Galaxy Backbone, in his intervention, acknowledged the fact that government understands the importance of infrastructure in growing the country’s digital economy, noting that one of the things the current administration holds dear to its heart, is infrastructure.
“Have they done all the things expected of them as government? Maybe not. But have they made some efforts in bridging the infrastructure gap? The answer is yes. But there is a whole lot of learning, a whole lot of training in trying to create that awareness, into fully understanding how this impacts the day-to-day living of everyone.
“As an organisation, what we are trying to do is to bridge that gap of understanding especially, people in leadership level in government; to let them understand this is what this infrastructure stands for, this is what it is all about. It is not just for sending emails but how it affects your life, your family, and the work that you do.
“We have done quite a lot together with some of the other organisations within the information technology space in the public sector. We are still doing a lot to raise that awareness of what this infrastructure means so that people can understand more and collaborate more.
“Collaboration is the key, talking about the benefits and not dwelling more on talking about the problems because sometimes when we do that, we cloud ourselves of the opportunities around us,” he said.
Okpala expressed the need for policymakers to be much more intentional about what the country is doing, how it the affects everyone, and how the efforts at building the country’s digital economy can be sustained.
The session, which was anchored by the Editor of TechEconomy, Mr. Peter Oluka, was unanimous with its position that infrastructure is the bedrock of ICT development and global competitiveness in Nigeria.
A Federal High Court in Lagos has dismissed a N1 billion lawsuit filed against MTN Nigeria Communications Plc by Walls and Gates Ltd and Okechukwu Udeichi, its managing director, over alleged copyright infringement, breach of confidentiality, and trademark violations arising from MTN’s 20th anniversary promotional campaign.
Delivering judgement on Tuesday, Justice Ayokunle Faji held that the plaintiffs failed to establish any legally protectable right in their proposal titled “20 for 20”, describing the action as frivolous, speculative, and vexatious.
The court dismissed the suit in its entirety and awarded N3m in costs against the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs instituted the action under Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1935/2021, alleging that MTN unlawfully used their “20 for 20” proposal, which they claimed to have submitted to the telecoms company on 17 September 2019, ahead of MTN’s 20th anniversary celebration in 2021.
They argued that MTN’s anniversary promotion, in which 20 sport utility vehicles were given out to subscribers, emanated from their proposal and amounted to infringement of their copyright, confidential information, and trademark.
Based on those claims, the plaintiffs sought N1bn in damages or, alternatively, an order directing MTN to render an account of revenue generated from the promotion and remit 50 per cent of it to them.
MTN denied the allegations, contending that the proposal was an unsolicited business idea that imposed no contractual or confidential obligation on the company.
The telecoms firm maintained that its 20th anniversary programme was independently developed and that the plaintiffs’ document was merely a general business concept not protected under Nigerian copyright law.
MTN further argued that the plaintiffs lacked a valid registered trademark and failed to demonstrate access to or copying of any protected expression.
In resolving the dispute, Justice Faji noted that the plaintiffs conceded during oral submissions that they failed to prove their claim of trademark infringement, leaving only the issues of alleged breach of confidentiality and copyright infringement for determination.
On confidentiality, the court held that no confidential relationship existed between the parties.
Justice Faji observed that before sending the proposal to MTN, the plaintiffs had already submitted it to the Nigerian Copyright Commission and relied on it for a trademark application, thereby placing the document in the public domain.
The judge further noted that after transmitting the proposal to MTN, the plaintiffs admitted circulating it to other organisations, which extinguished any claim to confidentiality.
According to the court, MTN had no obligation to respond to an unsolicited proposal in the absence of a contractual, fiduciary, or business relationship, or a non-disclosure agreement.
On the allegation of copyright infringement, the court held that registration with the Nigerian Copyright Commission does not confer copyright, stressing that Nigerian law protects expressions, not ideas or business concepts.
Justice Faji ruled that the plaintiffs’ “20 for 20 Millennium Promotion” amounted to no more than an idea of rewarding customers during an anniversary celebration and lacked the originality and intellectual effort required for copyright protection.
He described the proposal as a bare business concept devoid of original qualities capable of attracting copyright. The judge also held that MTN’s use of the phrase “MTN 20th Anniversary” was a natural description of an anniversary event and did not originate from any protectable work of the plaintiffs.
He further relied on evidence showing that MTN affiliates in other jurisdictions had implemented similar anniversary reward ideas before the plaintiffs’ proposal.
Justice Faji characterised the suit as a “gold-digging exercise” aimed at forcing a commercial relationship on MTN. He criticised the plaintiffs for using MTN’s trademark in their proposal without authorisation and then seeking to ground a billion-naira claim on the same document, adding that the case wasted valuable judicial time.
While affirming that citizens should have access to the courts, the judge stressed that such access must be limited to suits with prima facie merit.
He therefore awarded N3m in costs in favour of MTN, holding that costs must follow the event.
The court accordingly dismissed the suit in its entirety and ordered the plaintiffs to pay the awarded costs to the defendant.
Credit: Punch
Africa’s data center landscape is rapidly evolving from small, isolated initiatives into a large-scale, fast-paced expansion.
According to Africa Telecom Review, between 2025 and 2030, capacity demand is expected to soar, driven by rising cloud adoption, generative AI workloads, and the growth of digital services.
Leading this momentum are Nigeria in West Africa and Egypt in North Africa, which are drawing significant investment, carrier-neutral facilities, and increased interest from hyperscalers, even as developers and governments work to overcome challenges in power, connectivity, and talent.
Nigeria: West Africa’s Gateway to Scalability
Nigeria’s data center market has rapidly shifted from discussions to active development. Driven by a vibrant digital economy, a large mobile-first population, and a dynamic startup ecosystem, Lagos has emerged as the prime location for both colocation facilities and hyperscale projects.
Nigeria’s data center market is expanding rapidly, with an estimated 136.7 MW capacity in 2025 and projections to reach 279.4 MW by 2030 at a 15% CAGR, driven by recent facilities such as Equinix’s LG2.3 expansion in Lagos, and upcoming projects including MTN Nigeria’s 1,500-rack center and new 38-MW and 24-MW facilities under construction.
However, growth is challenged by severe power constraints, as Nigeria’s grid, capable of about 6,000 MW, fails to meet the nation’s total demand (100,000 MW), forcing data centers to rely on costly backup generation like diesel and gas, with limited current adoption of renewables despite some efficiency gains.
Growing demand from enterprises, banks, telcos, and government platforms for low-latency, sovereign hosting is driving a fundamental shift away from dependence on foreign landing points and offshore cloud regions. Developers are answering this need with multi-purpose campuses that offer carrier neutrality, cloud on-ramps, and edge infrastructure tailored for content delivery, fintech, and e-commerce surges.
The business case is strong and industry studies consistently rank Nigeria’s market growth and capacity outlook among the fastest-rising on the continent through 2030.
Egypt: The North African anchor
Egypt’s strategic geography, sizeable domestic market, improving policy environment, and Digital Egypt initiative have made it a prime destination for large-scale data hub projects. Cairo and the Nile Delta corridor offer fiber connectivity routes to Europe and the Middle East, and recent corporate deals and project pipelines point to a race to build hyperscale-ready campuses.
As of mid-2025, Egypt has 15 operational submarine cables with three more under construction. The country is targeting 18 by year-end to enhance low-latency access to Europe and Asia and the data center market is projected to grow from USD 278 million in 2024 to USD 694 million by 2030 at a robust pace.
These Egyptian developments matter beyond national borders as a consolidated Cairo hub creates new routing options and resiliency for MENA traffic and provides another competitive alternative to Western European clouds and submarine routes. For pan-African architects, Egypt represents both a distribution point and a home market for AI-scale infrastructure.
Demand Drivers and the AI Inflection Point
Two intertwined forces are powering the boom. First, enterprise cloud migration, digital payments, and streaming service growth require regional capacity to meet latency and sovereignty demands. Second, the rise of AI, from localized language models to enterprise inference farms, is intensifying the need for dense compute that is both scalable and economical.
According to McKinsey, the expansion of data centers is crucial for Africa’s businesses and consumers to achieve global competitiveness. Its latest report estimates that an investment of USD 10 billion to USD 20 billion in new capital is required to achieve this. As a result, this investment could unlock an estimated revenue pool of USD 20 billion to USD 30 billion across the data center value chain by 2030.
Furthermore, the firm projects that AI-driven demand for data center capacity could grow significantly, increasing by 3.5 to 5.5 times its current base within the same timeframe, translating to a total installed capacity of 1.5 to 2.2 GW by 2030.
The Infrastructure and Policy Hurdles
Despite the strong growth outlook, developers are contending with significant challenges. Power availability and grid stability remain the biggest obstacles to scaling quickly, often forcing projects to rely on costly hybrid energy setups that blend grid supply, on-site generation, and renewable sources.
By 2025, industry analysts had already identified power constraints as a major factor slowing data center rollouts across EMEA, highlighting why energy planning has become the decisive factor for African deployments.
Additional barriers include slow permitting processes, land acquisition difficulties, high import costs for specialized equipment, and a shortage of skilled technicians trained in modern data center operations.
For investors, managing these operational risks alongside rising demand will require stronger public–private collaboration and more innovative financing models.
Local Partnerships and the Path Forward
The coming five years will be critical for Nigeria and Egypt. By simplifying regulatory processes, strengthening grid infrastructure, and promoting green energy, both countries can establish themselves as leading data center hubs in Africa. For operators and cloud providers, achieving success will rely on providing reliable, sovereign, and energy-conscious capacity that supports both enterprise needs and AI-driven workloads.
Nigeria and Egypt are leading the charge, each offering distinct advantages that, together, are reshaping the continent’s digital backbone. The potential rewards are substantial: improved latency, local cloud sovereignty, and a strong foundation for AI-powered economies.
Elon Musk’s xAI is under intense scrutiny after its AI chatbot, Grok, generated a flood of sexually explicit images through user prompts known as “digital undressing,” including some appearing to depict minors.
Grok
Users have exploited Grok to strip clothing from images—primarily of women, often real individuals—and pose them suggestively. Reports from last week highlighted cases involving apparent underage subjects, sparking alarms over child sexual abuse material.
This incident amplifies risks of unregulated AI on social platforms. Critics argue it breaches local and global laws, endangering vulnerable people, especially children.
xAI and Musk claim swift measures on X, such as content removal, account bans, and law enforcement collaboration. Yet, Grok persists in producing sexualised women’s images despite these pledges.
Musk’s public disdain for “woke” AI and censorship, coupled with reported internal resistance to Grok safeguards, fuels the fire. xAI’s diminished safety team reportedly shrank just before the surge.
Unique Integration Sparks Spread
Unlike Google’s Gemini or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Grok embeds directly into X, enabling public tagging and instant, visible replies. This accelerated non-consensual image sharing.
The trend ignited in late December with bikini requests, escalating to explicit manipulations without consent. Research reveals over half of Grok’s people images show minimal clothing—mostly women—with a disturbing fraction featuring apparent minors.
Grok has honoured some underage explicit prompts, clashing with xAI’s policy against sexualisation or child exploitation. Enforcement remains spotty.
Grok later admitted safeguard failures, deeming such content illegal and banned, while urging reports to authorities. Musk vowed repercussions for violators.
Regulatory Scrutiny Mounts
Detractors link Musk’s anti-moderation views to lax controls, noting his resistance to image-tool limits amid rising internal red flags.
Global regulators respond: Europe, India, and Malaysia probe; Britain’s media watchdog urgently engages Musk’s firms over explicit and child content.
Experts note existing tech can curb misuse but demands compromises like delayed replies and rigid filters. Absent these, platforms invite grave harm.
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