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He stated that since governance has now been replaced by electioneering campaigns in preparation for the 2023 general election, the incoming administration should be focused, identify a particular infrastructure, and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.
Localised, industrial-grade artificial intelligence (AI) data centre infrastructure will be delivered across Africa and the Global South, following a strategic alliance between sovereign AI infrastructure company Amini, electronics manufacturing giant Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) and French digital firm Bull.
The three-way partnership aims to close the sovereign compute gap by allowing governments, telecommunications operators, financial institutions and energy companies to acquire and operate computing systems domestically.
Africa’s digital economy is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, which is driving regional demand for AI-enabled services across public administration, energy and finance, the parties say.
However, advanced cloud and AI processing capabilities have historically remained concentrated within a small number of external providers. The partnership seeks to establish locally anchored infrastructure, enabling domestic organisations to retain control over data and digital sovereignty.
Under the agreement, Amini will drive local market engagement and deployment, leveraging its existing platforms for locally anchored data capacity.
Foxconn will provide specialised hardware, server architecture and modular data centre technologies in its first dedicated infrastructure initiative focused on African markets.
Bull integrates its expertise in high-performance computing, quantum computing and emerging-market digital capacity. By operating independent systems, critical national sectors can bypass reliance on external platform architectures.
Financial entities can deploy independent credit, risk assessment and financial inclusion algorithms, while energy providers can implement localised machine learning for predictive maintenance and national grid optimisation.
“AI is becoming foundational infrastructure for every economy, yet most of the world still lacks the compute capacity required to participate on its own terms,” said Kate Kallot, founder and CEO of Amini. “This partnership ensures that Africa and the Global South can acquire, own and operate AI infrastructure locally, with sovereignty and long-term economic value at its core.”
Alexandre Jouys, chief commercial officer and head of Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Bull, added that Africa and more generally the Global South have the potential to emerge as a global-scale AI hub, by continuing to build regional computing capacity and supply chain independence.
The organizing committee of the 2026 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum (NDSF) on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) is proud to announce Dr. Olusola Teniola as the Chairman for this year’s landmark event.
A seasoned leader with over 32 years of global experience in the telecommunications and technology sectors, Dr. Teniola brings a wealth of strategic expertise to the forum.
The Convener of NDSF and Group Executive Editor, ITREALMS Media group, Ogbuefi Remmy Nweke, welcomed the appointment, noting that Dr. Teniola’s leadership comes at a pivotal time for Nigeria’s digital economy.
Dr. Teniola currently serves as the Director of Strategic Business Initiatives at ipNX Nigeria, where he leads market expansion across West and Central Africa.
His recent contributions as a Digital Development Consultant to the World Bank Group for the May 2025 Country Private Sector Diagnostic report further underscore the high-level expertise he brings to the 2026 forum.
Dr. Teniola’s career is defined by high-impact leadership and infrastructure development:
- He previously served as COO for Oodua Infraco Resource Limited, overseeing the deployment of 870km of digital infrastructure in Southwest Nigeria.
- He is the past President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and succeeded Dr. Ernest Ndukwe as the National Coordinator for the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4ai).
- His background includes executive roles at global giants such as British Telecom, Vodafone, Cisco Inc, and Alcatel-Lucent Technologies.
- He has been a vital contributor to the Nigerian Broadband Plan (2012-2013 and 2020-2025) and currently serves on the IPv6 Council.
Dr. Teniola holds a B.Eng (Hons) in Computer & Information Engineering from South Bank University, an MBA from the University of Bath School of Management, and an Honorary Doctorate (DBA) from Prowess University.
He is a Fellow of the MSME Institute of Management & Professional Studies and a member of the Chartered Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says ongoing investments and regulatory interventions in the telecommunications sector are expected to address persistent quality of service challenges across the country.
NCC
In a statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs, Nnenna Ukoha, on Wednesday, the commission acknowledged public concerns over dropped calls, slow internet speeds, unstable data services and service disruptions affecting consumers.
The commission said telecommunications services had become central to work, education, business, access to essential services and social connectivity, adding that consumers deserved reliable services and value for money.
According to the NCC, improving quality of service has remained a major regulatory priority over the past two years.
It said the commission had intensified monitoring of Mobile Network Operators, Internet Service Providers and Tower Companies, while strengthening data-driven oversight and stakeholder engagement to address structural challenges affecting service delivery.
The commission disclosed that the sector was undergoing one of its largest network expansion and modernisation phases in recent years following a prolonged period of under-investment.
It said Mobile Network Operators invested more than N2.13 trillion in network infrastructure and upgrades in 2025, while Tower Companies invested an additional N373.8 billion.
According to the NCC, the investments supported the addition and upgrade of more than 2,800 telecommunications sites nationwide to improve network coverage and capacity.
The commission said interventions included deployment of additional 4G and 5G infrastructure, fibre backhaul expansion, targeted deployments in high-demand urban areas, expansion into underserved communities and equipment upgrades.
It added that operators had committed to adding or upgrading more than 12,000 sites in 2026, with nearly 3,000 already completed.
The NCC also said over 730 additional 5G sites had been deployed across 27 states in 2026.
The commission noted that 4G penetration rose from 45 per cent in January 2024 to 54 per cent currently, while national median download speeds improved from 16.5Mbps to 20Mbps within the same period.
It further said power availability at telecom towers improved from a national average of 99.3 per cent in January 2025 to 99.7 per cent.
According to the commission, spectrum reallocation among major operators and spectrum block rearrangements were also being implemented to improve network efficiency and service performance.
The NCC, however, acknowledged persistent external challenges affecting service quality, including vandalism, theft of telecom equipment, fibre cuts, power disruptions and access denial for maintenance.
It disclosed that more than 27,000 avoidable fibre-cut incidents linked mainly to road construction and vandalism were recorded in 2025.
The commission said it was collaborating with the Office of the National Security Adviser and other stakeholders to implement the Presidential Order on Critical National Information Infrastructure.
It added that operators had been mandated to notify consumers of major service outages promptly and restore services within specified timeframes.
The NCC said enforcement of the updated Quality of Service Regulations 2024 commenced in November 2025, including consumer compensation measures for poor service quality and additional investment obligations on Tower Companies.
It warned that regulatory action would continue against operators that fail to deliver measurable improvements.
The commission reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring affordable, reliable and high-quality telecommunications services for all Nigerians.
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