In a landmark move for Nigeria’s “Silicon Lagoon” ambitions, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) have joined forces to provide subsidized, world-class sovereign cloud services to indigenous startups.
The partnership, executed through the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), aims to remove the high cost of digital infrastructure—one of the biggest hurdles facing Nigerian tech entrepreneurs today.
A statement jointly signed by Mrs. Hadiza Umar, Director, Corporate Communications & Media Relations at NITDA and Chidi Okpala, Head of Corporate Communications at Galaxy Backbone Limited, noted that under this agreement, startups within the iHatch programme will be onboarded to the Galaxy Cloud Platform (GxCP).
“This isn’t just any cloud; it is a sovereign infrastructure hosted locally in Nigeria, supported by Uptime-certified Tier III and Tier IV data centers,” the statement said.
By hosting data locally, startups not only improve latency but also bolster Nigeria’s data sovereignty, keeping the nation’s digital assets within its borders.
Galaxy Backbone is introducing a milestone-based credit system to ensure sustainable growth rather than providing a one-off handout. Cloud credits are released across the three critical stages of building, validating, and scaling to provide phased support. In a strategic move to protect founders from economic fluctuations, all post-credit billing will be conducted in Nigerian Naira to insulate startups from foreign exchange volatility. Additionally, Galaxy Backbone will deploy a dedicated Startup Success Team to guide entrepreneurs through the onboarding process and resource optimization.
Commenting, Abdul Malik Suleiman, GBB’s General Manager of Strategic Partnerships, said: “We are bridging the gap between infrastructure and innovation. By making world-class cloud services accessible, we allow startups to focus on what they do best: creating solutions.”
The iHatch programme has already been a powerhouse for talent, having trained over 160 startups across 37 hubs nationwide.
NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi emphasized that this collaboration is central to building a globally competitive startup ecosystem. Similarly, the MD/CEO of Galaxy Backbone, Professor Ibrahim Adeyanju, noted that the initiative provides enterprise-grade security at rates that early-stage companies can actually afford.
As Nigeria pushes for 70% digital literacy by 2027, the integration of GBB’s infrastructure into the iHatch ecosystem ensures that the next generation of “unicorns” is built on Nigerian soil, for Nigerians, and powered by Nigerian infrastructure.
For the 160+ startups currently in the pipeline, the message is clear: the sky is the limit, and the cloud is finally local.