NSIA deepens digital infrastructure bets, targets AI-ready economy

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) says it is intensifying investments in digital infrastructure and technology to position Nigeria as a builder and host of artificial intelligence capabilities rather than a passive consumer of global AI advances.

Aminu Umar-Sadiq, Managing, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), in a statement said the Authority ties its strategy to the KASI Hyperscale Data Centre, the NSIA Prize for Innovation (NPI), the NSIA-JICA Impact Investment Fund, and the Future Generations Fund’s exposure to venture capital and private equity managers backing high-growth technology firms.

The Managing Director said the KASI project, an indigenous large-scale platform offering co-location, cloud computing, storage, virtualisation, AI workload processing and high-performance GPU compute, is designed to close a gap in the market where financial institutions, government agencies and e-commerce firms currently spend heavily in foreign exchange on offshore data hosting.

On full development, the Authority said the KASI campus will comprise multiple facilities with a combined capacity of about 100 megawatts, ranking it among the largest hyperscale and AI-ready data centre developments on the continent.

According to NSIA, the investment direction reflects an approach shaped by its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, under whom technology and digital infrastructure have been positioned as central to the country’s long-term economic competitiveness.

The Authority said Umar-Sadiq’s strategic outlook places emphasis on building infrastructure, capital pathways and innovation ecosystems that convert Nigeria’s talent and entrepreneurial potential into sustainable economic value.

Beyond infrastructure, the agency pointed to its NSIA Prize for Innovation as a platform supporting homegrown entrepreneurs through mentorship, capacity building and ecosystem engagement, while its partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has established a $50 million Impact Innovation Fund targeting technology-enabled businesses tackling social and economic challenges.

The Authority added that its Future Generations Fund has deployed capital to venture and private equity managers with exposure to telecommunications, broadband, cloud services, cybersecurity and enterprise technology, creating synergies with the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund’s direct investments in physical infrastructure.

The sovereign investment agency maintained that the combined initiatives are expected to reduce reliance on offshore data hosting, attract foreign direct investment, create jobs across construction, operations and the digital ecosystem, and lower barriers to innovation for startups and small businesses.