By Mercy Peter
Nigeria’s digital economy sector has become attractive to global investment 25 years after the launch of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), the Ministers of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, and his Trade and Investment counterpart, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, have said.
The duo made the remarks at the Onomo Allure Hotel, Abuja, while delivering keynote addresses at the two-day Nigeria Digital Connectivity and Investments Forum organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and SwedFund.
According to Dr Oduwole, Nigeria has made significant strides in its telecommunications and digital economy sector, which accounted for over 9 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2026.
Oduwole said that, based on available statistics, Nigeria was not left out of global investments in data centres, thanks to robust opportunities in the telecom industry and investors’ confidence in it. GeographicReference
“Global investment in data centres has expanded rapidly, driven by cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the growing demand for digital services.
Nigeria already has more than 25 data centres operational or under construction, including a $120 million hyperscale facility by Airtel’s Entrax at EcoAtlantic designed for high-performance and artificial intelligence workloads, demonstrating the increasing attractiveness of our market for digital infrastructure investment. Global capital is flowing into infrastructure,” the Minister said.
The Minister spoke on the theme: “Connectivity and competitiveness: digital infrastructure as driver of investment climate and trade.”
She commended the organisers of the investment forum for their efforts to attract investment into the telecom industry, saying that the theme is “particularly timely because the quality of a country’s digital infrastructure increasingly determines the quality of its investment climate, the competitiveness of its businesses, and its ability to participate meaningfully in international trade.”
The Minister said the conversation should not only focus on connectivity and competitiveness among stakeholders, but on the infrastructure required to produce, connect, invest, and trade in a modern economy.
When we speak of trade, we often think about ports, highways, rail corridors, and shipping routes. Those investments remain essential, but the nature of trade has changed.
Today, fibre networks, data centres, cloud infrastructure, digital platforms, electronic payments, and secure data systems are equally important to the movement of goods, services, capital, and information across borders,” she said.
“Nigeria is not approaching digital connectivity simply as a social infrastructure requirement. It is an investable economic opportunity and a foundation for complex business.
The opportunity spans data centres, cloud services, fibre, broadband infrastructure, digital platforms, fintech, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, digital logistics, and digitally delivered services,” the Minister stated further.
In his remarks, the Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, represented by a Director in the Ministry, Engr Adetunji Adeyemo, said the present administration has identified infrastructure capital as strategic to the development of the telecom industry.
According to the Minister, the government alone cannot achieve the scale of infrastructure needed to scale up economic activities in the sector; therefore, it has extended an open hand to stakeholders in the private sector, development partners, and other global institutions for investment.
Dr Tijani assured that the government would continue to make the environment conducive to more investment, while prioritising transparency, trust, and predictability.
