‘Nigeria’s Data Centres Attracting Multi-billion Dollar Investments’

Schneider Electric Anglophone Africa has said that Nigeria is increasingly attracting multi-billion-dollar investments in data centres as digital transformation across Africa accelerates.

The company noted that Nigeria has become a key landing point for subsea cables, positioning the country as a major hub for digital infrastructure development on the continent.

Schneider Electric said while the global data centre market is projected to grow at a 15 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2030, maintaining uptime in Nigeria remains one of the biggest challenges for operators.

Country president, Schneider Electric Anglophone Africa, Ajibola Akindele, said software is now central to data centre operations in Nigeria, enabling operators to manage energy consumption and maintain resilient performance despite power constraints.

According to him, “Software is no longer a background tool for data centres in Nigeria. It is the intelligence that allows operators to anticipate changes in demand, optimise energy use and ensure resilient performance even in the face of power constraints.”

He explained that uptime has become a critical business concern for Nigerian enterprises, as most Tier III data centres rely on a hybrid power system involving natural gas turbines and diesel generators.

Fluctuations in fuel prices, he noted, can significantly affect operational costs and the stability of the country’s growing digital ecosystem.

The company also observed that many Nigerian IT infrastructure setups have historically been developed through a fragmented approach, where different contractors handle cooling systems, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and cabling.

This approach, it said, often results in energy inefficiencies and increased operational costs.

To address these challenges, Schneider Electric said it is expanding its Data Centre and Critical Infrastructure EcoXpert Programme in Africa to provide specialised local expertise.

Akindele said the programme focuses on developing Nigerian engineering firms and system integrators through a rigorous certification process designed to strengthen local technical capacity.

He explained that programme-certified partners are trained in “Electricity 4.0,” a Schneider Electric framework that integrates digital monitoring with electrical infrastructure to improve energy efficiency and reduce operational waste.

He added that the demand for advanced infrastructure expertise is also being driven by the rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which requires higher rack densities and generates more heat than traditional data centre workloads.

According to him, sectors such as banking and telecommunications are increasingly deploying AI-driven solutions for fraud detection and customer analytics, placing greater pressure on data centre cooling and power systems.

He said technologies such as liquid cooling and advanced airflow management are becoming necessary to handle these rising thermal loads.

Schneider Electric also highlighted the role of regulation in shaping Nigeria’s data centre expansion, noting that the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has emphasised data sovereignty by encouraging organisations to store Nigerian citizens’ data within the country.