Sanwo-Olu woos investors to bridge Lagos infrastructure gap

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday, urged international investors to look the direction of Lagos for investment in critical infrastructure.

Lagos is West Africa’s economic hub and boasts estimated population of over 21 million people. The huge population presents market and opportunity for investment in public infrastructure, including rail lines, roads, potable water supply, optic fibre, tourism and hospitality, etc.

Governor Sanwo-Olu, who spoke at the Ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Kasi Cloud Hyperscale Data Centre Campus in Lekki, Lagos, said the state government was willing to partner with any willing investors.

“Lagos is open for infrastructure investment, and we honour the commitments we make. If you are building cloud infrastructure, Lagos wants to work with you. If you are building AI infrastructure, Lagos wants to work with you. Enabling infrastructure is not charity; it is economic strategy,” he said.

He said the centre just commissioned aligns with his administration’s THEMES+ Agenda, particularly Technology and Innovation and Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy.
He said Lagos is open for infrastructure investment and therefore urged international partners and institutional investors to partner and invest in Lagos.

He added: “Over the past decade Lagos has established itself as the beating heart of Africa’s digital economy. This is the city that produced unicorns; the city where fintech evolved from experiments into global enterprises. Our innovators looked at power constraints, connectivity gaps, and every operational obstacle and still chose to build. That resilience is why the world watches Lagos, but resilience alone should not be our long‑term strategy.

“Today, Lagos is already the data-center capital of Nigeria, commanding a substantial share of the nation’s installed capacity. Connectivity lands here. Enterprise demand lives here. Innovation grows here. Capital gathers here. But we are not satisfied. The next phase of the global digital economy will be led by cities that deliberately build enabling infrastructure at scale, and this Kasi Cloud campus is precisely that kind of enabling infrastructure,” Sanwo-Olu said.

The governor also noted that “Great infrastructure does not arrive in a vacuum. It is attracted by policy. That is why our administration has been deliberate about creating an enabling environment.

“The Lagos State Electricity Law is a central example. Through this reform we are shaping a more reliable, investment‑friendly energy future capable of supporting industrial growth, advanced manufacturing, digital infrastructure, and next‑generation compute ecosystems.

“We have also invested in fibre‑optic connectivity, digital skills development, the Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council, and smarter public‑private collaboration across our technology ecosystem. Ecosystems do not emerge by accident; they are built and sustained through intentional policy over time. This is why the Kasi Cloud campus aligns so powerfully with our THEMES Agenda, particularly Technology and Innovation and Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy.”

Also speaking, Taiwo Oyedele, minister of finance and coordinating minister, said the commissioning of the Kasi Cloud Hyperscale Data Center was one of the defining moments in Nigeria’s economic modernisation and digital transformation.

“The project is a national infrastructure that strengthens the foundation for innovation and expansion opportunities for enterprise and enhances productivity across sectors and positions Nigeria as a competitive player in an increasingly AI-driven world. It is in every sense an investment in Nigeria’s future,” he said.

Tunbosun Alake, Lagos Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, said the state government was committed to providing friendly and enabling environment for investors.

He said: “Lagos State under leadership of Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu is investing in critical infrastrutures such as fibre optics, data centees, smart tech fund, city management and most importantly putting funds behind innovation programmes in universities and strengthening the startup ecosystem not just so that we will be technology adopters but we will be technology creators.”

Earlier, Johnson Agogbua, founder and CEO of Kasi Cloud, said the establishment of the Kasi Cloud Hyperscale Data Centre was for technological development and advancement.