We generate the data, but who stores it? We are not there yet.
At a continental technology gathering in Marrakech, Nigeria's digital infrastructure chief placed Africa's computing deficit within a longer arc of historical dispossession — a continent that has repeatedly generated raw value while others captured it. With less than 0.6 percent of global compute power serving nearly a fifth of humanity, Kashifu Abdullahi argued that the age of artificial intelligence presents both a final warning and a narrow opening: build indigenous cloud infrastructure together now, or accept a new form of technological dependency as permanent. The proposal is not merely technical — it is a question of whether Africa will author its own digital future or inherit one designed elsewhere.
- Africa generates vast amounts of data but lacks the infrastructure to store, refine, or extract intelligence from it — leaving the continent's digital wealth flowing outward to foreign platforms.
- The gap is not abstract: with under 0.6% of global compute power and some of the world's fastest-growing digital economies, the structural imbalance threatens to deepen with every advance in AI.
- A cybersecurity breach that moved from a compromised bank into government payment systems illustrated how dangerously interconnected — and underprotected — existing African digital infrastructure already is.
- Nigeria is proposing a 'cloud of clouds' model inspired by Europe's GAIA-X, linking distributed infrastructure across African nations rather than centralizing control in any single state or corporation.
- Technical working groups, public-private partnership frameworks, and a National Sovereign Cloud Initiative are already in motion, signaling that the push has moved from rhetoric toward institutional machinery.
- The window is understood to be closing — the message from Marrakech was that coordination must happen now, before AI infrastructure calcifies into another system Africa consumes but did not build.
Standing before an audience at GITEX Africa in Marrakech, Kashifu Abdullahi, director-general of Nigeria's National Information Technology Development Agency, delivered a pointed diagnosis: Africa holds less than 0.6 percent of the world's computing power while accounting for up to 19 percent of its population and hosting some of its fastest-growing digital economies. "We generate the data," he said, "but who stores it, who refines it, who creates intelligence from it?" The answer, he made clear, is not Africa — not yet.
Abdullahi framed the problem as a historical pattern threatening to repeat itself. In previous industrial revolutions, Africa supplied raw materials and talent while others built lasting technological value. Artificial intelligence, he warned, risks becoming the next chapter in that story unless the continent acts deliberately. His proposed remedy is a "cloud of clouds" — not a single centralized system, but a coordinated network of existing infrastructure across African nations, modeled loosely on Europe's GAIA-X digital sovereignty framework.
Nigeria is already moving. A technical working group involving major technology companies and local data center operators is developing a cloud infrastructure collaboration framework. The government's stated role is to create conditions for private enterprise to build and operate infrastructure, supported by a new public-private partnership structure designed to accelerate investment without overwhelming public budgets.
Cybersecurity adds urgency to the picture. A recent incident in which attackers breached a bank and then accessed connected government payment platforms demonstrated how vulnerabilities cascade across interconnected systems. Abdullahi called for open intelligence-sharing about cyber threats rather than the current culture of concealment, warning that AI will make such risks more complex and harder to contain.
The broader argument Abdullahi carried to Morocco was one of historical reckoning and present opportunity. Africa has the population, the data, and the growing digital economy. What it lacks is the infrastructure to capture value from those assets. Whether African nations can coordinate across borders to build it remains uncertain — but his message was unambiguous: the attempt must begin now, or the moment will pass.
Kashifu Abdullahi stood at GITEX Africa in Marrakech with a stark observation: Africa controls less than 0.6 percent of the world's computing power. The director-general of Nigeria's National Information Technology Development Agency was there to make a case that the continent cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of previous industrial revolutions—when Africa supplied raw materials and talent but built nothing of lasting technological value for itself.
The numbers he cited were meant to sting. Africa is home to between 15 and 19 percent of the global population and sits atop one of the world's fastest-growing digital economies. Yet that computing power gap remains a chasm. "We generate the data, but who stores the data, who refines it and who creates intelligence from it?" Abdullahi asked. "We are not there yet." The question was rhetorical, but the answer was the entire point of his visit to Morocco: Africa needs to build its own cloud and compute infrastructure, and it needs to do it together.
The push is framed as a matter of sovereignty and survival. Without indigenous capacity, Abdullahi warned, the continent risks permanent dependency on foreign technology platforms. The alternative he proposed is what he called a "cloud of clouds"—not a single centralized system controlled from one place, but a network of existing infrastructure across African countries, linked and coordinated to serve the continent's needs. Nigeria is already laying groundwork through its National Sovereign Cloud Initiative, and Abdullahi pointed to Europe's GAIA-X framework as a possible model for how African nations might cooperate on such a scale.
The practical machinery is already moving. Nigeria has established a technical working group that includes major technology companies and local data center operators, tasked with developing a framework for cloud infrastructure collaboration. Abdullahi was careful to frame this as a matter of national interest rather than partnership with any single company. The government's role, he emphasized, is to create the conditions for private enterprise to build and operate the infrastructure—not to control it directly. A new public-private partnership framework is meant to accelerate digital infrastructure projects without placing the entire burden on public budgets.
The timing matters. GITEX Nigeria, the continent's flagship technology conference, drew more than 13,000 participants last year and exceeded venue capacity. Organizers are preparing for this year's edition with ambitions to reach 25,000 attendees if larger facilities can be secured. Abdullahi sees the event as a vehicle for deepening regional cooperation, particularly within West Africa, and for shifting how Nigeria supports its technology startups—moving away from simply counting participants toward backing companies with established products and genuine commercial potential.
Cybersecurity looms as a complicating factor. Abdullahi pointed to a recent incident in which attackers compromised a bank and used that foothold to access connected systems, including government payment platforms like Remita. The interconnectedness of digital infrastructure means that a breach in one organization can ripple across entire sectors. He called for better intelligence-sharing among organizations about cyber threats, rather than the current practice of concealing incidents to protect reputation. As artificial intelligence becomes more sophisticated, he warned, the risks grow more complex and dangerous.
The larger narrative Abdullahi is constructing is one of historical reckoning. Africa cannot afford to be a passive consumer of AI infrastructure built elsewhere, any more than it could afford to be a passive supplier of raw materials during previous industrial transformations. The continent has the population, the growing digital economy, and the data. What it lacks is the infrastructure to capture value from those assets. Building it will require coordination across borders, investment from both public and private sectors, and a willingness to learn from how other regions—Europe in particular—have approached the problem of digital sovereignty. Whether African nations can actually achieve that coordination remains an open question, but Abdullahi's message from Marrakech was clear: the attempt must be made now, or the opportunity will be lost.
Notable Quotes
This revolution is about AI and cloudification. We generate the data, but who stores the data, who refines it and who creates intelligence from it? We are not there yet.— Kashifu Abdullahi, NITDA Director-General
Our goal is national interest, not partnership with one company.— Kashifu Abdullahi, on Nigeria's cloud infrastructure strategy
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Nigeria care so much about this? Isn't cloud computing something companies handle?
Because the companies handling it now are mostly American and Chinese. If Africa doesn't build its own infrastructure, every piece of data generated on the continent flows out, gets processed elsewhere, and the value stays elsewhere. Nigeria is saying: we have the people, the data, the market—we should own the systems that run on top of it.
But building cloud infrastructure is expensive. How does Nigeria actually do this without massive public spending?
That's why they're talking about connecting what already exists rather than building from scratch. And they're using public-private partnerships—the government creates the framework and attracts private investment, but private companies actually build and run the systems. It spreads the cost and the risk.
The cybersecurity thing he mentioned—the bank breach—how does that connect to all this?
It's a warning about what happens when systems are interconnected but not well-coordinated. If you're building a "cloud of clouds" across Africa, security becomes everyone's problem. One weak link compromises the whole network. That's why he's pushing for better threat-sharing instead of everyone hiding breaches.
Is this realistic? Can African countries actually cooperate on something this big?
That's the real question. Europe did it with GAIA-X, but Europe has more institutional alignment. Africa has 54 countries with different governments, different tech levels, different interests. Nigeria is trying to start with West Africa and build from there, but it's ambitious.
What happens if they don't build this infrastructure?
They stay dependent. Every AI application, every data service, every digital business on the continent runs on infrastructure owned by foreign companies. Africa becomes a market and a data source, but never the place where the value is created or controlled.