GBENGA ADEGBIJI, the Chief Operating Officer of the data center business of MainOne, MDXi, across West Africa including Ghana, Côte D’Ivore, and Nigeria, which recently got acquired by Equinix in an interview with EBUNOLUWA LADIPO discusses Nigeria’s progress in the data industry as well as opportunities yet untapped to enable it to live to its full potentials.
What does your recent acquisition by Equinix mean for the Nigerian data industry and economy at large?
What our acquisition means for the Nigerian data industry is that a lot more will come in terms of expansion, the expansion plan is also going to be funded with direct investment from Equinix.
For the Nigerian economy, the acquisition will result in foreign direct investments and more jobs. We also believe that the acquisition will boost the ecosystem and create better opportunities for other businesses to thrive.
We have plans to build data centres in other states outside Lagos that will expand the reach of our digital services to other parts of the country and that will create new job opportunities for our graduates and youths.
Capacity development and skill transfer is part of MainOne tradition, we just graduated our 7th graduate trainee’s cohort after completing a six-month intensive training at the MainOne academy and are now being integrated into the company’s workforce. This acquisition will allow us to expand the pool of our graduate trainee program in more locations within Nigeria and other parts of Africa where we operate.
There have been several reports about where Nigeria is when it comes to different sectors of the economy. The World Bank report recently stated that Nigeria lags behind eight African countries in private investment in infrastructure. So where is Nigeria when compared to other African countries in the issue of data centers, internet infrastructures, and DataCloud?
Within the African markets, South Africa takes the leading position, followed by Nigeria and Kenya, in that order. Can Nigeria be better? Yes, we can. If you look at the population of South Africa and look at the population of Nigeria, you will see clearly that we have a huge opportunity due to our population.
But there are also challenges which sometimes discourage investors when considering Nigeria and one of them is security. We have a lot of negative public relations (PR) and that has limited the amount of foreign direct investment that comes into Nigeria. So, the challenges of attracting investment are there but the return is also very high if you believe in Nigeria and you are ready to do the work.
Another challenge, possibly why we are still where we are compared to South Africa, is the underlying basic infrastructure. Power is very key to data centre operations. Fibre connectivity is also very key, otherwise a data centre could just be a piece of any other real estate if you do not have the right connectivity around it.
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In recent times, we are beginning to see different innovations, as well as development to ensure Internet penetration, and the very most recent one is the landing of Google cables. Are there other low hanging fruits that Nigeria is yet to tap into?
Yes, there are lots of them and I will talk about the Equiano, the Google submarine cable that just landed in Lagos. The cable landing is good because it will bring international traffic even to our data centers, since we have an existing partnership with Google. It will also increase the bandwidth capacity available within Nigeria and the other locations where the cable will be sited.
The key question that begs for an answer is, how do we take these enormous submarine capacities to the hinterlands of Nigeria? How can someone in Kaura Namoda in Kaduna State for example have the same broadband access that I have in Lagos and I think these are the real questions we should be asking at this time. I think there should be investments to expand the terrestrial and interstate fibre cables across Nigeria.
If there is infrastructure, then it means that the same kind of data center services that anybody in Lagos is enjoying, somebody in Kaduna can have the same access. Because at the end of the day, if all cables land in Lagos Nigeria and there is no way to take internet to the hinterland, the developmental gap between the served and the underserved will continue to exist.
One way we can retain value is to create platforms, opportunities, as well as incentives for investors to engage in terrestrial cable expansion because that’s the only way we can take advantage of the current pull. And whether we like it or not, data is the future.
You earlier mentioned population as the underlying factor why investors are coming to Nigeria. Apart from population as a factor to drive data centers and internet penetration, what other factors are responsible for the growth of data connectivity?
Another factor is the disposable income of that population which is a function of how much money is available to an individual to spend on data. So, when you look at the demography, population is really helping Nigeria drive digital adoption and hence the need for Data centres.
The other thing I believe will drive internet penetration not only in Nigeria, but across West Africa is enforcement of Government regulation on data privacy and domiciliation.
When we started around 2013, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) gave a directive that all banks in Nigeria must have their IT infrastructure in a standard data centre for safety and security of customer information and records. The regulators knew the risk associated with customers identity theft and issued that directive to all banks at the time.
The regulation led to the establishment of Tier III data centre infrastructures like MDXI to help the financial services sector not only in compliance but also cost savings as the banks can now buy the exact capacity of infrastructure that they require and able to scale up and down as their operations or technology demands.
Massive adoption of cloud and digital services is also helping with data centres patronage. Technology is going to the cloud, but the cloud is moving back to edge locations where the users and the eyeballs are in order to improve latency and customers’ experience.
This means digital service providers would rather host their cloud applications and servers in a secured Tier III Data Centres closest to where their customers are located rather than in far remote locations outside the shores of the country. This is also driving the surge we currently see in data centre development.
What are the trends you see in the data industry?
A dominant trend is the need to build and operate data centres in the most efficient and sustainable way. The discussion is no longer the power usage effectiveness (PUE) but also heat usage, and water usage among others, all around efficiency and saving the environment. MDXI has invested in more efficient equipment that are environmentally friendly and emit low carbon emission to ensure we are compliant in terms of sustainability of the environment.
We are also investing in energy-efficiency modes of operation that are being built into our data centers, so we can achieve a smarter mode of operation and a more predictive system, such that before a fault occurs, the system is telling you that something is likely going to happen tomorrow.
What is your local and global outlook for the industry?
I see more investment coming into the data centers in Nigeria that will expand the industry ecosystem and enhance consumption of digital services in the country, which will also have a boomerang effect in the adoption of technologies, such as AI, Smart applications, IOT and 5G penetration.
Therefore, we need to be deliberate about preparing for the opportunities that are ahead of us as a nation. We need to understand the importance of data, and what this industry can contribute to the macroeconomic situation of Nigeria in terms of job creation, wealth empowerment and youth engagement.
Technology adoption now is being compliant with the future and the Government has a role to play in jump-starting development so Nigeria does not lose out in the 4th industrial revolution.
Talking about the West African region, I think the countries with submarine connectivity may have better and faster internet because of the proximity of the cable system and data center development may just follow the same pattern.
Cloud adoption is on the rise and will shape the future. 5G will change the landscape and Africa will become a destination of choice for investment in digital infrastructure.
Nigeria has about one percent of the total global data center capacity in the whole of Africa. So, if you look at Africa, as big as it is, it means there are a lot of opportunities in the entire continent.
