Dr. Krishnan Ranganath, regional executive for West Africa at Africa Data Centres (ADC), has emphasized that data localization is the critical pillar for achieving Nigeria’s digital independence and economic resilience.
Speaking at the Tech Convergence 2.0 held in Abuja on October 14, and organized by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Dr. Ranganath made a compelling case for keeping Nigeria’s data within its borders during a panel session themed “Beyond Domains: DNS as a Growth Engine for Collaborative Innovation and Expansion.”
“This isn’t just a best practice, it’s a fundamental principle for a secure and sovereign digital economy,” – Dr. Krishnan Ranganath, regional executive, West Africa, Africa Data Centres.
Localization as a Growth Engine
Dr. Krishnan argued that data sovereignty, compliance, and trust are indispensable to Nigeria’s ambitions of building a sustainable digital economy. With the rise in cloud computing, fintech innovation, and e-governance, he said keeping Nigerian data hosted within the country is vital for ensuring national security, user privacy, and regulatory compliance under the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023, enforced by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
He noted that less than 20% of Nigeria’s data currently resides in local data centres, with the majority hosted abroad, often in Europe or North America. This, he warned, creates vulnerabilities in cybersecurity, data ownership, and economic value retention.
“The localization of data is the engine room powering Nigeria’s digital sovereignty and its control over critical information infrastructure,” he added.
Africa Data Centres’ Commitment to Local Hosting
Reinforcing ADC’s alignment with Nigeria’s national goals, Dr. Krishnan confirmed that Africa Data Centres guarantees all .ng domain data hosted with them will remain resident within Nigeria.
The company currently operates one of West Africa’s largest carrier-neutral facilities in Lagos, with a capacity exceeding 10MW and a roadmap to expand to 20MW by 2026.
ADC’s infrastructure forms a critical backbone for cloud service providers, telecom operators, fintechs, and public sector digitization efforts.
Bridging the Trust Gap
Beyond infrastructure, Dr. Krishnan identified a trust deficit as a major challenge to data localization.
“The problem isn’t just infrastructure, it’s confidence. We must build trust in Nigerian-hosted solutions and demonstrate that local data centres can deliver world-class reliability and security,” he said.
He urged businesses, regulators, and cloud providers to prioritize local partnerships and fully utilize existing Nigerian infrastructure rather than defaulting to foreign hosting.
Recent industry data supports this concern:
Nigeria has approximately 16 operational data centers, but over 60% of local enterprises still rely on foreign cloud platforms for storage and processing.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria’s data centre capacity is growing at 12% annually, yet up to $220 million in cloud service spending leaves the country each year due to offshore hosting.
The NiRA registry shows .ng domain registrations surpassed 230,000 in 2025, but many remain hosted on non-Nigerian servers.
Call to Action
Dr. Krishnan concluded with a rallying message to the tech ecosystem:
“The time for discussions is over. The time for action is now. Let’s move from excuses to building solutions, and take pride in our national digital assets.”
He reiterated that building a trusted local cloud ecosystem is not only about infrastructure but about confidence, compliance, and collaboration, adding that Nigeria must lead Africa’s push for digital sovereignty through deliberate policy, investment, and trust-building.
The event, which brought together policymakers, domain administrators, and digital economy leaders, including representatives from the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Africa Data Centres, NITDA, Galaxy Backbone, NiRA registrars, amongst others, underscored a unified goal: strengthening Nigeria’s digital foundation through local hosting, domain adoption, and sustainable cloud infrastructure.
Key Stats at a Glance
- .ng domains (2025): ~230,000 active registrations
- Local data hosting: <20% of Nigeria’s data
- Data centre capacity growth: 12% annually (NCC)
- Capital flight from offshore cloud hosting: ~$220 million/year
- ADC Lagos capacity: 10MW (expanding to 20MW by 2026)
