Overreliance On Solar Threatens Nigeria’s Digital Growth, IoT West Africa Warns

Nigeria’s heavy reliance on solar energy could undermine the long-term growth of its digital economy if broader renewable energy options are not urgently explored, Ms Darshana Deka, Conference Producer at IoT West Africa, has warned.

Speaking in an interview on Thursday in Lagos, Deka said that while solar power remains widely deployed, the country must diversify into other sustainable energy sources to effectively meet the rising demand from data centres and digital infrastructure.

She noted that the real gaps lie not within the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, but in Nigeria’s power market, which she described as vast but underutilised.

“As for the regulatory gaps, I see a few gaps, not in the IoT market, but rather in the power market.

“The power market in Nigeria is huge. It has massive potential, and while it is being utilised to the extent of solar, there are many other renewable and sustainable energy sources that can be explored,” she said.
Deka stressed that expanding beyond solar energy would be critical to sustaining Nigeria’s digital transformation, particularly as demand from data centres and other technology-driven infrastructure continues to surge.

“Nigeria is still continuing with solar, so I think we need to move beyond solar and look at what are the other avenues,” she added.

She explained that IoT West Africa was established to demonstrate how multiple sectors collectively drive the digital economy, particularly through the convergence of IoT, data centres, power, and water systems.
“The main purpose is to practically show how the convergence of IoT, data centres, power and water are the main accelerators of Nigeria’s digital economy. That is why we brought these separate ecosystems under one roof,” she said.

According to her, the initiative was designed to bridge long-standing divides between sectors that traditionally operated in silos.

“When we started five years ago, we saw clear differences between the energy sector, data centre sector and IoT. The idea was to bring them together and show how they are connected and transact with one another, not operate in isolation,” she said.

Deka noted that this integrated approach has contributed to the emergence of critical infrastructure in Nigeria, driven by the convergence of physical and digital systems.

“Critical infrastructure today is a convergence of physical and digital systems, and we have seen the rise of such facilities in Nigeria,” she said.

Highlighting gaps in the data centre ecosystem, she pointed out that Nigeria still needs to significantly expand local capacity despite increasing investment inflows.

“There were only a handful of data centres when we started, less than 10. With the number of companies coming in and investments flowing, data will become a major issue,” she said.

She emphasised the importance of data sovereignty, noting that countries must retain control over their data to ensure security and strategic independence.

“Nigeria will want to control its data. You don’t want to give out a country’s data to another country to keep it safe. That is why more local data centres are needed,” she said.

Deka added that IoT West Africa and the Data Cloud Expo (Power and Water) have helped foster collaboration among industry leaders, policymakers, innovators, and investors capable of shaping Nigeria’s long-term economic trajectory.

“We have brought together people who are now sitting together to make changes. These are the people who can shape Nigeria’s 2030 economic goals,” she said.

She noted that conversations from the platform are beginning to yield tangible outcomes, signalling progress toward building a more integrated and resilient digital economy.
“We are seeing some of these discussions materialising into action, and that is what we have been able to achieve,” she said.