Abuja talks shift AI debate to Nigeria’s infrastructure gap

Technology leaders and government officials are set to turn attention to a question many believe will determine Nigeria’s future in the AI economy: Does the country have the infrastructure needed to power AI at scale?

That question will take centre stage on July 8 in Abuja when Africa Hyperscalers, in partnership with Vertiv, hosts a high-level Infrastructure Solutions Roundtable titled “The Foundation Behind AI, Cloud & Connectivity.”

The closed-door meeting will bring together senior officials from government, regulators, technology companies and digital infrastructure providers to examine whether Nigeria is ready to support the growing demands of AI, cloud computing and large-scale digital services.

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The event comes at a time when countries across the world are investing heavily in AI infrastructure, with data centres, cloud platforms, fibre networks and stable electricity becoming critical assets in the race for digital competitiveness.

Organisers say Nigeria’s AI ambitions cannot be achieved through software innovation alone. They argue that reliable power, resilient data centres, secure cloud platforms, trusted data environments, low-latency connectivity and strong collaboration between the public and private sectors will determine whether the country can benefit from the next wave of digital transformation.

The roundtable will take place during the same week as the National Oil and Gas event in Abuja, highlighting how AI is becoming important not only to the energy sector but also to healthcare, finance, education, manufacturing, agriculture and government services.

The main panel discussion, themed “Nigeria’s AI Readiness Challenge: Infrastructure, Data, Demand and Execution,” will focus on the practical steps needed to strengthen the country’s AI ecosystem.

Discussions are expected to cover infrastructure readiness, cloud adoption, cybersecurity, digital public infrastructure, enterprise demand, data governance, regulation and investment needed to support AI deployment across the economy.

Industry experts say these issues have become increasingly important as businesses generate larger volumes of data and require faster computing capacity to run AI applications.

The session will also examine whether Nigeria’s existing digital infrastructure can handle AI workloads, how government digital platforms can become more resilient and cloud-ready, and what regulatory framework is needed to encourage responsible AI development while protecting users and businesses.

Another key focus will be how organisations can modernise ageing technology systems to manage growing data demands across distributed computing environments.

The keynote presentation and panel discussion will be led by Ayotunde Coker, chief executive officer of Open Access Data Centres.

Other speakers include Ibrahim Adepoju Adeyanju, managing director of Galaxy Backbone; Emmanuel Edet, acting director of Regulation and Compliance at the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); Otuya Okecha, managing director of FibreSol; Luther Ogbaji, application engineer, Thermal, Vertiv; Temitope Osunrinde, director of Africa Hyperscalers; and Okechi Osuagwu, regional strategic account manager for Vertiv Central Africa.

Senior representatives from both the public and private sectors are also expected to participate in the discussions.

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Experts believe the outcome of such conversations could influence future investments in Nigeria’s digital infrastructure, particularly as demand for AI-powered services continues to increase across industries.

The Abuja roundtable aims to redirect attention to the physical and digital foundations required to make those technologies work reliably at a national scale.

With governments and businesses increasingly relying on AI to improve productivity, deliver public services and support economic growth, participants are expected to argue that investment in infrastructure may become one of Nigeria’s biggest competitive advantages or one of its greatest challenges in the global AI race.