By Progress Godfrey

Drone strikes that damaged three cloud facilities operated by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on March 1 have exposed Nigeria’s lack of digital independence.

It has also shown that in the geopolitical conflict, data centres are no longer neutral infrastructure but potential targets, raising concerns about the vulnerability of cloud-dependent economies like Nigeria.

Nigeria, with a fast-growing digital economy, depends heavily on foreign cloud systems. Analysts warn that disruptions to offshore infrastructure could ripple through financial services, government platforms, and everyday commercial activity.

Nigeria’s growing dependence on external cloud systems

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Unitellas Edge Cloud, Mr Smith Osemeke, said the attack highlights a structural imbalance in Africa’s digital ecosystem, where demand is rising faster than local
capacity.

He noted that Africa accounts for just 0.6 per cent of global data centre capacity despite surging digital adoption, leaving countries exposed to infrastructure located outside their jurisdiction.

“Nigeria exemplifies this imbalance: its 107 million internet users rely heavily on cloud infrastructure hosted in Europe, the United States, and South Africa. Fintech leaders such as Flutterwave and Paystack process billions of naira through systems outside Nigeria’s jurisdiction, exposing the country
to geopolitical risks that could disrupt financial services, commerce, and national operations with little warning,” he said.

Osemeke said domestic constraints further deepen the risk as Nigeria currently operates 17 data centres requiring about 137 megawatts of power while grid supply remains inconsistent, forcing operators to depend on diesel-powered backup systems.

He noted that infrastructure concentration poses another threat, with most facilities and submarine cable landing points located in Lagos, increasing the risk of a single point of failure.

He also warned that cyber threats are rising alongside physical risks, with financial and government systems among the most targeted.

Closing structural gaps and strengthening resilience

Osemeke said Nigeria must treat digital infrastructure as a national security priority, requiring both policy reforms and architectural changes.

“This requires a comprehensive National Digital Infrastructure Security Act that sets mandatory resilience standards, enforces continuity testing, and clearly defines the shared responsibilities of public and private operators,” he said.

He called for a more distributed data centre architecture across cities such as Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, and Enugu to reduce geographic concentration risks.
He also stressed the need for stronger system design standards.

“To mitigate this systemic exposure, Nigeria must enforce multicloud, multiregion architectures across critical sectors. Relying on a single cloud provider or a single geographic region is no longer acceptable in a world where data centres have become military targets,” he added.

Osemeke warned that any prolonged outage caused by geopolitical conflict, cyberattack, or infrastructure failure could trigger widespread disruption. According to him, “Nigeria’s financial inclusion gains, digital public services, and daily commercial activity all hinge on uninterrupted cloud availability, making resilience a matter of national stability.”

He added that critical systems such as banking records, identity databases, and tax platforms require secure offline backups and regular stress testing to ensure continuity during crises.