…As Kasi Hyperscale Data Centre launches in Lagos

By Juliet Umeh

The federal government yesterday declared that Nigeria must move beyond merely consuming digital intelligence hosted abroad to becoming a producer and owner of the infrastructure powering the global artificial intelligence economy.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Prof. Taiwo Oyedele, stated this during the commissioning of the Kasi Hyperscale Data Centre in Lagos, describing the facility as a major milestone in Nigeria’s digital transformation and economic modernisation.

Oyedele said the world had entered a new global race driven not by oil or gold but by “compute” – the processing power behind artificial intelligence, digital economies, and innovation – stressing that countries controlling such infrastructure would shape the future global economy.

According to him, “Nigeria faced a strategic choice: either to continue paying heavily in foreign exchange to access AI infrastructure hosted abroad or to build and own the infrastructure powering the next-generation economy.

“The world is currently in the middle of a new global race. It is not a race for oil, nor is it a race for gold, but a race for ‘compute’. Today, we have made a choice. We have chosen the latter.

“Graphics Processing Units, GPUs, originally designed for gaming and graphics, have now become the engines powering advanced medical diagnostics, fintech platforms, predictive logistics systems, and large language models.

“Every large language model, every advanced medical diagnostic tool, every intelligent financial platform, every predictive logistics system depends on massive computing infrastructure exactly like the one we are commissioning today,” he stated.

Oyedele described the Kasi facility as strategic national infrastructure capable of positioning Nigeria as a competitive player in the AI-driven global economy.

“It strengthens the foundation for innovation, expands opportunities for enterprise, enhances productivity across sectors, and positions Nigeria as a competitive player in an increasingly AI-driven world,” he added.

Oyedele linked the project to the economic reforms of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, noting that improved investor confidence, foreign exchange reforms, and macroeconomic stability had created the environment for such investments.

Also speaking, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu described the facility as a major boost for Lagos’ ambition to become Africa’s digital and innovation hub.

According to him, “The project aligns with the state’s long-term economic and technology development plans.

“For too long, African innovation has depended on infrastructure built elsewhere. Our startups were built here, but they were hosted abroad. Our businesses generate data here, but they process it elsewhere,” Sanwo-Olu said.

He noted that the AI-ready data centre, designed to scale up to 100 megawatts of power capacity, would lower costs for businesses, improve connectivity, create jobs, and strengthen Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.

“This facility means Nigerian data can remain on Nigerian soil. It means local processing at lower costs, reduced dependency on foreign infrastructure, and more secure services for businesses and citizens,” he added.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kasi Cloud, Johnson Agogbua, said Africa must own the infrastructure powering artificial intelligence in order to preserve and reflect its cultural identity and knowledge systems.

According to him, African history, languages, scientific traditions, and indigenous knowledge deserve to be part of the training data shaping future AI systems.