A new front has opened in the battle for Nigeria’s digital infrastructure, and the stakes are rising fast.

On Tuesday, telecoms giant MTN Nigeria officially commissioned the first phase of its Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre in Lagos — a $120 million Tier III-certified colossus designed to wrest a slice of Nigeria’s fast-growing cloud and data market from global hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. At the heart of this bold move lies a bet on a Naira-denominated future, wrapped in a strategy of aggressive local pricing, national infrastructure control, and a deep network of business relationships.

MTN’s new facility — named after its former Group CEO — features a $100 million investment in data centre infrastructure and an additional $20 million in cloud platforms. With an initial IT load of 4.5 megawatts and space for up to 1,500 racks, it enters a market long dominated by dollar-billed platforms operated out of overseas data farms. Its most distinctive play? Offering cloud services in Naira — and at a 15% to 20% discount on prevailing market rates.

Local currency, local latency, local politics

“We are positioning ourselves at the forefront of Nigeria’s digital space,” said MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola at the launch. “With our data centre and cloud platform priced in Naira, we’re insulating Nigerian businesses from the volatility of foreign exchange.”

This Naira-first pitch lands in a market where global providers have long been accused of pricing out local startups. AWS only recently enabled Naira payments — through third-party billing partners — but the charges remain tied to fluctuating dollar exchange rates. “That’s not the same as being truly priced in Naira,” a Lagos-based startup founder told Launch Base Africa.

The economics are compelling. Nigeria’s public cloud services market is projected to be worth between $828 million and $1.63 billion by the end of 2025. But as the Naira continues to slide against the dollar, the cost of doing business with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud has become untenable for many Nigerian firms. MTN’s local currency billing, combined with pay-as-you-go flexibility, aims to turn that pain point into its competitive wedge.

Local startups: resilient but outgunned?

For years, indigenous cloud providers like Layer3 Cloud, CloudFlex, and Galaxy Backbone have capitalised on the cracks left by global players. Their offerings hinge on Naira billing, low-latency domestic data hosting, compliance with local data protection laws, and accessible support for local clients.

“Latency is everything,” says David Ita, Head of Strategy at Layer3. “By hosting your data within Nigeria, you cut distance and ensure faster service.” Layer3 serves clients like the National Cash Transfer Office and boasts multiple security certifications that align with Nigeria’s data protection regime.

CloudFlex, another homegrown player, has doubled down on offering S3-compatible storage with ransomware protection — in partnership with US firm Cloudian — but crucially, priced in Naira. “There’s clear demand for object storage,” said CloudFlex MD Remi Adejumo, “but the forex cost makes AWS unaffordable for many Nigerian businesses.”

But local providers now face a new threat: a deep-pocketed, politically embedded competitor in MTN. The telecom giant controls vast fibre infrastructure, serves tens of thousands of enterprise clients, and has the marketing and distribution muscle to undercut local players at scale.

“Judging from their network quality I don’t think I can trust MTN’s cloud storage,” said a Lagos-based developer. “And again, I don’t trust MTN. Your server could be shut down because someone in power made a phone call.”

A regulator’s move

Hovering over the entire market is Nigeria’s digital regulator — the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) — which is gradually tightening the noose around how data flows in and out of the country. A forthcoming data classification framework could make it mandatory for sensitive government and citizen data to be hosted locally.

NITDA’s Director-General Kashifu Inuwa has also championed a “Cloud First Policy,” pushing government agencies to migrate from on-premise IT to the cloud — preferably, domestic ones. “This move is aimed at driving cloud adoption, attracting investments, and strengthening the country’s digital sovereignty,” Inuwa said at a recent webinar.

That could create a semi-protected bubble of demand for Nigerian data centres — giving domestic providers, and MTN, an inside track on government business.

But the balancing act is delicate. While Nigeria pushes data localisation, it also continues to woo global cloud giants. Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, pledging collaboration with Nigerian data centres — a signal that a local Google Cloud facility may not be far off.

Global scale vs local control

AWS still holds the upper hand when it comes to scale, service breadth, and global trust. It’s the platform that powered South Africa’s TymeBank to 11 million customers in six years. Its Lagos Local Zone launch in 2022 further lowered latency for West African clients.

“AWS offers a pay-as-you-go approach for the vast majority of our cloud services,” the company says, touting cost control and flexibility. But those services remain dollar-priced and dependent on international infrastructure — which some Nigerian policymakers now see as a national security risk.

In contrast, MTN has market reach, Naira pricing, and regulatory alignment. What it lacks in platform sophistication, it could make up for in ubiquity and price. And while smaller local startups offer niche advantages — personalised support, government credibility, legal compliance — their capacity to scale quickly in the face of a behemoth like MTN is in question.

Cloudy with a chance of disruption

The coming years will likely redefine Nigeria’s cloud hierarchy. Will AWS and other hyperscalers build new physical infrastructure locally to retain market share? Will MTN sustain its pricing advantage and prove its reliability to skeptical developers? Can local players innovate fast enough to stay relevant?

One thing is certain: Nigeria’s cloud war is no longer hypothetical. It is happening — in courtrooms, boardrooms, server rooms, and data regulation workshops.

The question for Nigeria’s startups and corporates is no longer if they should go cloud-first. It’s where they go, who they trust, and how much they’re willing to pay — in dollars or in Naira.