LASG: Huawei Cloud Will Protect Nigeria’s Data Sovereignty, Boost Local Hosting


Emma Okonji

Lagos State government has said the launch of Huawei’s local cloud in Nigeria, will go a long way in protecting Nigeria’s data sovereignty and support local hosting of various data generated in Nigeria in order to strengthen local traffic in Nigeria’s cyberspace.
The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, who said this on Tuesday in Lagos during the Huawei Cloud Summit Nigeria 2024, where the local cloud infrastructure was formally launched, commended Huawei Technologies for establishing such infrastructure in Lagos, Nigeria.
According to him, “To have a good cloud from Huawei is a big deal. It’s about sovereignty, and it’s about us actually being able to control our destiny better.
Local cloud situated in Nigeria, reflects the aspiration of Nigerians, and of course the people of Lagos. It’s based on shared determination to overcome infrastructure challenges and bring digital transformation and position it as a key player in the global digital economy. The launch of Huawei cloud is also a call for action for businesses, organisations, and individuals to adopt cloud solutions as a pathway to innovations, efficiency, and growth.”
Technology or data transformation is no longer optional, but it’s essential for sustaining development. Technologies, like Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, among others, offer growth opportunities for sectors like agriculture, healthcare, education, banking, and of course e-commerce. In Lagos, we have already begun to witness this transformative impact of technology, from small startups to established enterprises, Hamzat further said.
In his goodwill message, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, who was represented by the Acting Director, Regulation and Compliance at NITDA, Emmanuel Edet, said: “The launch of Huawei cloud in Nigeria is a landmark and pivotal moment for Nigeria, as we collectively embrace the transformative potential of cloud computing to drive innovation, foster economic growth and enhance digital transformation across every sector of our economy.”
In his welcome address, CEO, Huawei Nigeria, Chris Lu, spoke about the significance of the launch of Huawei local cloud in Nigeria. According to him, the cloud infrastructure will bring a much better performance in terms of latency in hosting data locally in Nigeria, giving customers a timely experience that is less than 15 milliseconds, when compared to using cloud service from other markets, which takes more than 120 milliseconds for data transmission.
“So this ultra performance is one thing that we are bringing to the Nigerian market. The second aspect is about trust. Having your own data in Nigeria, and in Lagos, provides a lot of confidence and trust for our customers, including the trust of government, and the regulators, who believe it’s important for the entrepreneurs to have their own company’s data, have their own consumers’ data in Nigeria, and this is all about data sovereignty.
“The third aspect is about commitment. Building a local cloud means we are operating locally in the long term. Because Huawei has been here for 25 years, we are going to be staying here for another 25 years, and operating our own local cloud is a commitment that shows Huawei’s willingness to develop an ecosystem with all our local partners together for the better future of Nigeria,” Lu said.
Speaking about skills gap in cloud technology, during a media interactive session, the Deputy Managing Director, Huawei Nigeria, Osita Nweze, said Huawei has started addressing such skills gap through its ‘ICT for Change’ initiative, where many Nigerians, including females have been trained.
“We are training people in cloud technology, in 5G, in AI, and we will continue to partner with the different tiers of government in Nigeria and the private sector to continue to provide training and capacity building,” Nweze said.
Managing Director, Huawei Cloud Nigeria, Hugo Hu, said Huawei would be training more than 5,000 developers on Huawei cloud.
According to Hu, “Firstly, we will have an online cloud academy, where people can go and learn from our official website for the course, which is free. Once they register and get a Huawei cloud account, they will get the training free of charge. We will also provide some test environment, which we call a sandbox, which will allow developers to carry out free trials, and free test, while the test environment is in a sandbox.”
Some key partners to Huawei Nigeria, like Konga, Global Accelerex, Opay, Qucoon Limited, that were present at the launch, gave testimonies about how Huawei services have enhanced their businesses.

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