What travelers need to know about Nigeria's updated visa-on-arrival policy

This clarification on the updated visa-on-arrival policy follows a meeting between the Director General of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), Princess Zahrah Mustapha Audu, and the Honourable Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.

The meeting aimed to discuss the VoA process, address concerns, and reaffirm the government’s stance on the initiative.

The decision to halt the visa-on-arrival policy in Nigeria has raised fears and panic among investors as it threatens to hinder business travel, discourage foreign investment, and create uncertainty about the country’s commitment to ease of doing business.

Nigeria’s visa-on-arrival policy

Nigeria’s old Visa-on-Arrival (VoA) policy allowed passport holders from African Union (AU) member states and citizens of all countries to obtain visas upon arrival for short visits, tourism, business, or emergency relief work.

It also extended to Nigerians in the diaspora with dual citizenship, infants born abroad, and former citizens who had renounced their nationality.

The policy was designed to simplify entry procedures by allowing eligible travelers to obtain visas at international airports rather than at embassies or consulates.

However, it was not available at land border crossings. Travelers were required to meet documentation and fee requirements before receiving entry approval upon arrival.

Recently, Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, announced the government's plan to discontinue the Visa-on-Arrival (VoA) policy, citing it as “unsustainable” and a potential security risk.

According to the minister, it is essential to have prior knowledge of a traveler’s arrival in Nigeria. “I don’t expect you to just come to my country without me knowing you’re coming in. No, it’s never done anywhere,” he stated.

However, security experts have raised concerns about potential lapses, warning that relying solely on port-of-entry document submissions may hinder thorough vetting of travelers.

To enhance security, the government plans to deploy an Advance Passenger Information system at land borders.

Tunji-Ojo confirmed that by April 1, 2025, the current VoA system will be replaced with stricter pre-arrival clearance and screening processes to improve traveler tracking and strengthen border security.

VoA: Cancellation or upgrading?

The minister’s policy has, however, drawn significant criticism and concern, with some sectors warning that the move could discourage investors unwilling to endure long visa application queues.

In response, the Director General of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) engaged with the Minister of Interior to gather more information on the policy.

During the meeting, the minister reassured the DG that the Visa-on-Arrival (VoA) process is not being scrapped but rather upgraded to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

He clarified that travelers will still be able to apply online for short-stay visas, with approvals granted within 24 to 48 hours.

Tunji-Ojo added that individuals must fill out a landing card, which will be integrated with the visa solution, passport solution, and global background checking systems, prior to arrival. According to him, the ministry will share this data with other agencies worldwide to sanitize the process.

Once approved, the visa will be sent directly to the applicant’s email, eliminating the need for a physical sticker upon arrival.

This upgrade builds on the existing online approval system, streamlining the process and ensuring travelers receive approvals before departure.

The enhanced system aims to eliminate inefficiencies, improve automation, and strengthen Nigeria’s control over traveler inflows.

By modernizing the visa process, Nigeria moves closer to creating a more business-friendly environment and attracting foreign investment.

By Solomon Ekanem, Business Insider Africa

Chinese EVs Make Inroads in Nigeria as Gasoline Prices Rise

On an untarred road in Nigeria’s upmarket neighborhood of Victoria Island in Lagos, a fairly modest looking car dealership has been drawing attention.

The showroom floor of Saglev, an independent electric vehicle dealer in Nigeria’s largest city, showcases several car models with unfamiliar names for most Nigerians: Voyah, Nammi and Mhero — all made by Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Group Co. Three Saglev-branded luxury EV sedans parked in front of the showroom turn a few drivers’ heads as they pass by in gasoline-fueled cars.

While the EV revolution is well underway in many parts of the world, the idea of charging up a car with electrons is still somewhat bemusing in the West Africa nation where half of the population have no access to electricity, and the other experiences frequently interrupted power.

Yet after gasoline prices began to soar in Nigeria in 2023, EV proponents saw an opportunity to pitch their wares to the millions of drivers across Africa’s most populated nation. There are now at least 10 dealerships across Nigeria pushing two- and four-wheel EVs, mainly from Chinese makers. Separately, efforts are underway to build up a nationwide EV charging infrastructure and Saglev is even backing a domestic manufacturing facility to build zero emissions vehicles.

Rather than be deterred by the notoriously erratic power supply in Nigeria, investors see EVs as a savvy long-term bet in a country that needs to quickly switch to reliable clean power for cost reasons alone.

“The actual EV story in Africa is not actually climate change but economic,” said Saglev Chief Executive Sam Faleye, a native Nigerian who left his medical practice in the US to go into EVs in Africa. He has partnered with Chinese EV maker Dongfeng to annually assemble up to 2,500 units in Nigeria by as early as this year.

Until two years ago, gasoline in Nigeria was among the cheapest globally as the country spent about $10 billion annually to keep the fuel affordable for its largely poor population. That changed in May 2023, when newly elected President Bola Tinubu put an end to the costly practice that was pushing the nation into a fiscal crisis. Subsidies were consuming nearly half of government income, while debt service took the remainder. Pump prices of gasoline subsequently soared more than fivefold, leaving many people struggling to keep their cars on the road.

To cushion the pain of higher fuel costs, the government has been urging car owners to convert their vehicles to ones running on compressed natural gas.

At the same time, Faleye said, the case for EVs has been improving — especially for electric ride-hailing drivers who had to stop work after gasoline subsidies ended.

“Today a ride hailing driver in a small vehicle will need almost 18,000 to 20,000 naira ($11.91 to ($13.23) for petrol for the day,” he said. “It’s less than 4,000 naira for the electric vehicle.”

With an average daily income of about 13,000 naira for a ride-hailing driver in Lagos, according to service provider Bolt Technology OU, the jump in gasoline prices made the service unprofitable.

While the lower cost of operating an EV makes it attractive, its prospects might at first look dim in a country that supplies only 4 gigawatts of electricity for its over 200 million citizens. As a comparison, South Africa with about one fourth of Nigeria’s population generates about 25 gigawatts.

In Nigeria, households and businesses cover the energy shortfall with gasoline-powered generators. This means in the near term, EVs charged at home will likely be fueled by dirty power systems, which is paradoxical to the advantages the clean cars are supposed to bring. Over time though, renewable energy will play a bigger role in meeting Nigeria’s electricity needs.

BloombergNEF expects solar installations in Nigeria to soar. The researcher had to completely revamp its forecasts after gasoline prices surged in 2023. It currently sees Nigeria’s solar capacity increasing to as much as 21.5 gigawatts by the end of the decade, compared with only around 1 gigawatt a couple of years ago.

Jenny Chase, an analyst for BloombergNEF, said one indication that solar is already taking off at a great clip is customs data show in 2024, $150 million of solar panels — about 1.5 gigawatts — left China for Nigeria. “It isn’t clear where they have gone, but most likely they have been installed on homes and businesses to help people generate power independent of the grid and without burning expensive diesel and gasoline,” she said. “This trend is likely to continue, as solar modules are now incredibly cheap.”

Already more than 7 million Nigerians in rural areas are now able to access power via decentralized renewable projects. Siemens AG is also working with the government on a $2.3 billion project to improve transmission and distribution.

Meanwhile, Sterling Bank is backing an initiative through Qoray Mobility to build a network of EV charging stations across Nigeria, with a little more than a dozen deployed so far. The bank funded the first publicly available EV-fueling station in the business district of Lagos. “That station has been running for nearly a year now charging some of the most sophisticated electric vehicles, the Tesla of this world to the BYDs and the rest,” said Olabanjo Alimi, head of renewable energy and mobility at Lagos-based Sterling Bank.

Arguably the biggest obstacle for the expansion of EVs across Nigeria, however, is upfront cost. An estimated 87 million Nigerians were living below the poverty line in 2023, according to the World Bank, making it the world’s second-largest poor population after India.

For some EV proponents, the answer is to focus on just two- or three-wheel EVs, which are cheaper to make and buy. Adetayo Bamiduro, chief executive and co-founder of Max, a Nigerian vehicle subscription startup, said his company is aiming to deploy around 100,000 EVs — mainly two-wheelers — in Nigeria and other African countries over the next five years. “Max is mainly focused on two-wheeler EVs because of affordability,” he said. “A lot more people can afford to buy an electric motorcycle than buy a an electric car.”

There are a mix of private and public solutions to make EV purchases more financially feasible. As part of its Qoray initiative, Sterling Bank is providing buyers of EVs loans for up to 90% of the value of a vehicle with repayment spread over five years.

The government is also offering incentives as it aims for 30% of domestic car production to be EVs by 2032. It announced in October last year a value-added tax exemption for EVs in a bid to promote usage and reduce greenhouse emissions in line with its net-zero target by 2060. EV dealers can also get additional tariff waivers with a so-called import duty certificate.

Faleye said the exemption has made EVs cheaper when compared to their gasoline counterparts, while Chinese EVs are almost cost competitive on their own. “Today the electric vehicles coming out of China, cost wise, quality wise you can’t get anywhere in the world,” he said.

The potential to scale-up business is also key. Alimi noted that any slice of the vehicle market in a country as populous as Nigeria can give a good return in the long term.

“There are 12 million registered vehicles on Nigerian roads,” he said. “At some point in time, these 12 million registered cars on Nigerian roads will begin to have some electric vehicle [in the] mix.”

By Anthony Osae-Brown and Emele Onu, Bloomberg

Gen 'IBB' Babangida’s book: Former Nigerian military ruler reveals all

Nigeria's former military ruler Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, known as IBB, has released a new autobiography including several revelations about the turbulent times while he was in charge of the country from 1985 to 1993.

A Journey In Service has got Nigerians talking and reflecting on what might have been if things had turned out differently - especially the controversial decision to annul the 1993 elections, and the execution of a childhood friend.

Babangida has a mixed record. While some praise him for the infrastructural development Nigeria he oversaw, others say there was massive corruption during his time.

Here are four takeaways from the book:


The 1993 elections annulment

This is the biggest talking-point as it touches on a topic which many believed altered Nigeria's history. Some say the country still has not really recovered from the annulment of the 1993 presidential elections.

In the book, Babangida, now 83, for the first time expressed deep regret for cancelling that election.

The poll was supposed to bring an end to military rule after 10 years and the cancellation of the outcome threw the country into turmoil.

The date of the vote - 12 June - is now remembered in Nigeria as Democracy Day.

Moshood Abiola, widely believed to have won the election, was later imprisoned and his wife assassinated.

Gen Babangida acknowledged that Abiola, who died in 1998, had won the vote.

However, in 1993 as results were being collated, the military government abruptly stopped the process - an action that triggered widespread protests and a political crisis.

"That accident of history is most regrettable. The nation is entitled to expect my expression of regret," Babangida writes.

At the time, he cited the issue of vote-buying, as well as the need to protect the country’s judiciary as reasons for the annulment.

Gen Babangida was forced to resign several months later.

Nigeria's current President, Bola Tinubu, said at the book launch that Gen Babangida had shown courage by admitting what took place.

Abiola’s son Jamiu said the acknowledgment by Gen Babangida that his father had won the election came as a welcome surprise to him and some of his family members.

"Perhaps General Babangida was looking for peace,” he told the BBC Focus on Africa podcast.

Civilian rule was eventually restored in 1999, 11 months after the death of another military ruler Gen Sani Abacha. He had seized power towards the end of 1993 in the wake of the annulled elections.

Execution of a childhood friend

General Mamman Vatsa and Babangida grew up together, were in the same class in school and rose alongside each other in the military. His execution in 1986 after he was convicted of a coup plot is another major talking-point of Babangida's presidency.

"We were very close friends," Babangida recalls.

"We had grown up together in Minna and had been classmates in Bida. We did several things together as peers. My wife recalled that we used to share a room as bachelors. We would reach out for whatever shirt was available, irrespective of whose it was, and just wear it and head out! We were that close."

However, he says now realises that Vatsa had been jealous since when they were teenagers.

"With the benefit of hindsight now, I recall that a constant part of our relationship as teenagers and young men was a continuous and recurrent peer jealousy on his part towards me. He was always envious of my achievements, especially when he thought I was progressing better than him, either in school or our military career path."

Vatsa and nine others were executed in March 1986. They were said to have planned a coup, which according to Babangida would have plunged the country into darkness.

"I had to choose between saving a friend's life and the nation's future," he writes.

Nigeria's first coup

Another contentious issue has been the 1966 coup which overthrew Nigeria's first government following independence from the UK. Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was killed, along with other high-ranking national and regional leaders.

The fact most of the coup plotters were from south-eastern Nigeria meant the coup became known as an "Igbo coup" - a label Babangida rejects.

He highlighted the role of Major John Obienu, an ethnic Igbo officer, who played a key role in quelling the coup, revealing that many senior Igbo officers were also killed in the mutiny.

The book also sheds light on the involvement of members of other ethnic groups, notably Yorubas, many of whom he said had participated in the military takeover.

The former leader confirmed that the original intention of the coup plotters was to release politician Obafemi Awolowo from detention and install him as president.

Babangida writes: "It was a terrible time for the Nigerian military. As I have said elsewhere, as a young officer who saw all of this from a distance, probably, ethnic sentiments did not drive the original objective of the coup plotters.

"For instance, the head of the plotters, Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, was only 'Igbo' in name. Born and raised in Kaduna, his immigrant parents were from Okpanam in today's Delta State, which, in 1966, was in the old mid-western region. Nzeogwu spoke fluent Hausa and was as 'Hausa' as any! He and his original team probably thought, even if naively, that they could turn things around for the better in the country."

The association of Igbos with the coup led to attacks on members of that community around the country and ultimately to the civil war in which some Igbo leaders tried to secede from Nigeria in 1967. At least a million people were killed in what became known as the Biafran war.

The love story with Maryam Babangida

Many Nigerians see Babangida's wife Maryam as the country's most iconic and influential first lady. From 1985 to when they left office in 1993, their love story captivated a lot of people. She died in 2009 and the ex-head of state has never remarried.

"She was stunning. Her ebony beauty set off enchanting eyes, and her dazzling smile showed off a lovely set of teeth; when she smiled - and she often smiled - her face lit up, and her eyes danced," he writes.

"We both saw our marriage as our freedom and agreed to sort things out ourselves if we quarrelled. We were very compatible; indeed, I can only recall two occasions on which we quarrelled, and neither of us was afraid to apologise to the other. In all our years of marriage, it was never necessary for anyone to mediate between us over a misunderstanding because of that original meeting of minds.

"I never imagined that Maryam would pass away before I did, but the gift of life is in Allah's hands, not in humanity's. I am grateful for the life Maryam and I shared and for the fruit of our union. Coping without her has not been easy, but it has been made much less demanding by the memories of our life together and the length of her shadow," Babangida says.

He describes Maryam as a devoted wife, mother, homemaker, and passionate advocate for rural women. Above all, he saw her as a true partner.

By Mansur Abubakar, BBC

Cybercrime schools in Nigeria: The proliferation of internet fraud

In recent years, Nigeria has gained notoriety as a global hub for internet fraud, a subset of cybercrime popularly known by the slang “yahoo yahoo”, with fraudulent activities ranging from sextortion, email or romance scams to sophisticated hacking operations. In 2024, the West African nation ranked fifth in the first-ever World Cybercrime Index on global cybercrime hotspots, coming behind Russia, which ranked number one, and Ukraine, China, and the United States, which occupied the second, third, and fourth positions respectively. A disturbing development in this trend is the emergence of “cybercrime schools” — informal training hubs where individuals, often children and young adults, are taught how to defraud others online.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) estimated that the country loses approximately USD 500 million annually to online fraud. The proliferation of internet fraud has become a major concern, as it not only impacts victims financially and psychologically but also tarnishes the country's reputation internationally.

 
What are cybercrime schools?

Cybercrime schools are underground operations where instructors teach aspiring fraudsters the skills needed to commit online crimes. They are commonly referred to as “HK”, which means “Hustle Kingdom” or “419 training schools”. In Nigeria, 419 refers to Section 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code, which criminalizes fraud and related offences. Over time, the term “419” has become synonymous with scams and fraudulent activities. Students enrolled in such fraud academies, often referred to as “Yahoo boys”, are coached on how to manipulate victims.

In a massive raid on December 10, 2024, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested 792 suspects allegedly involved in cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scams. Among those apprehended were 148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, two Kazakhstanis, one Pakistani, and one Indonesian. The raid occurred in a seven-story building located in the highbrow area of Victoria Island, Lagos, where these foreign nationals reportedly trained their Nigerian accomplices on how to initiate romance and investment scams. They also used the identities of their Nigerian accomplices to perpetrate online fraud.

Barely a month later, another syndicate of Chinese fraudsters (who usually recruit local tech-savvy Nigerians) specializing in hotel review job scams, targeting mostly European victims, were arrested in Nigeria's capital city, Abuja.

The EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed that there are minors in primary schools (elementary school) who are enrolled in cybercrime schools across the country with the consent of their parents.

“We have what we call the 419 training schools where they harvest our children from primary school. When they leave their regular studies, they close at 2 o’clock; they end up in some of these 419 training schools. They start indoctrinating them. They first of all ask them, even their parents, to sign an undertaking.”

The mindset and appeal of internet fraud

A social media search of the sentence “Yahoo is not a crime” on X reveals several posts like this and this by Nigerian users who strongly believe that internet fraud is not even a crime. One user on X noted:

Yahoo Yahoo (internet fraud), is really an eye opener on some issues concerning our society, regardless of how bad it is, I can say there's a lot faux, lies that it uncovered, one of them will be about relationship.
— sultan of Kaduna 🐊 (@sultanofvybezz) February 9, 2023

While some Nigerians consider internet fraud merely a “hustle”, others claim it is a means of retrieving what colonial masters took from Africa or some form of revenge against slavery. A viral video shows a lady who praised her 12-year-old brother for successfully scamming his first victim. A viral comedy skit satires a Yahoo boy's conversation with a potential romance scam victim (referred to as a client). Several other factors that contribute to the rise of internet fraud include the pervasive get-rich-quick mentality as well as the appeal and glamorization of fraudulent success. Pop culture and social media have amplified a narrative that all Yahoo boys live in luxury, as both are rife with images of the scammers flaunting luxury cars, expensive clothes, and extravagant lifestyles.

Unemployment and poverty are also contributing factors. With limited job opportunities, online fraud appears to offer a faster route to wealth compared to legitimate employment. The absence of adequate digital literacy and cybersecurity awareness in schools leaves young people vulnerable to being lured into these criminal activities.

The fight against cybercrime

Although the Nigerian government has taken steps to combat cybercrime through the Cybercrime Act of 2015 — which criminalizes offences like identity theft, online fraud, and hacking, it has been criticized for having insufficient penalties.

Many social media users criticize the government's response to these crimes, arguing that the relatively short jail term and small fines for convicted internet fraudsters aren't enough of a deterrent.

EFCC is being mischievous with these headlines.

Dude stole $345,000 and was given 2 years jail term with option of a meager fine of N2m [USD 1,324]. Which I’m sure he’s paid by now.

Shameful. And this is why fraud won’t end here. https://t.co/IicnUjTpoQ

— Pete (@Prymefactor) January 9, 2025


While Nigeria collaborates with international law enforcement agencies to tackle internet fraud and apprehend suspects based in Nigeria, agencies such as the EFCC and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) are tasked with enforcement, conducting raids, arrests, and awareness campaigns.

The director of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Center (NPF-NCCC), CP Uche Ifeanyi Henry, said 751 arrests were made and significant assets were recovered in 2024. However, he emphasized the need for advanced forensic tools and stronger collaboration with technology firms to address increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.

Nigerian cybersecurity specialist Chidiebere Divinewill Ihediwa suggested “redirecting the knowledge of the Yahoo boys”. He advised the EFCC to devise a method of re-orientating the educated e-fraudsters arrested by the agency towards becoming information technology specialists rather than allow them to rot away.

By Pamela Ephraim, GlobalVoices

Related story: Almost 800 arrested over Nigerian crypto-romance scam

Nigerians are building affordable alternatives to AWS and Google Cloud

Nigerian entrepreneur Fara Ashiru built her fintech platform, Okra, on Amazon Web Services in 2020. She would pay AWS in dollars even as Okra earned in naira because American cloud providers did not accept payments in local currency at the time.

The payments to AWS gradually skyrocketed as the naira depreciated around 70% against the dollar between 2020 and 2024. “The bills were staggering,” Ashiru told Rest of World. “Combine that with Nigeria’s economic challenges — rising inflation and forex volatility — and it became clear that this model was unsustainable.”

Ashiru took things into her own hands, and Okra set up cloud infrastructure with servers in data centers in Nigeria and South Africa in 2024. Later that year, the cloud operations were spun off into a new company called Nebula, which allows anyone in Nigeria to run their website, app, or workflow on its cloud and pay in naira.

Nebula is the latest entrant in the Nigerian cloud services market, where several homegrown companies — such as Nobus, Galaxy, Suburban, and Layer3 — are positioning themselves as an affordable and localized alternative to AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Rest of World spoke to five startups who have migrated to local cloud providers in the last two years.

Besides the option to pay in naira, these companies allow Nigerians to store their data within the country — an advantage most of their Western rivals lack. Local servers give businesses the benefits of low latency and data localization at a time when the debate about who has access to a country’s data is heating up.

Global leaders appear to have noticed the threat. In January, AWS started accepting payments in naira. “Local currencies are important in localizing the payment experience for customers,” AWS said at the time.

“I think AWS has realized that they must accept naira because if you don’t accept naira you are wasting your time,” Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, managing partner at pan-African venture building firm Accelerate Africa, told Rest of World. “We regularly advise our portfolio companies to look out for local solutions where possible and manage major costs like [cloud] in naira.”

AWS, Microsoft, and Google did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Nigeria is home to over 19,000 tech startups, including 1,400 venture-funded ones that have collectively raised nearly $28 billion. The country has at least three internet unicorns: e-commerce major Flutterwave and fintech firms OPay and Interswitch.

AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud account for nearly 65% of the world’s cloud services market. They have also been the leaders in the African cloud market — their data centers, however, have so far been concentrated in South Africa.

Microsoft set up a data center in Johannesburg in 2019 and plans to build another one in South Africa and one in Kenya. AWS opened its first African data center in South Africa in 2020, while Google Cloud recently joined its peers by setting up a facility in Johannesburg. None of these companies have a data center in Nigeria, except the small local zone center AWS opened in Lagos in 2023.

In the wake of the U.S.-China tech decoupling, there has been a growing concern about how and where data is stored. Each country is finding ways to store the data of its citizens and businesses locally. Moving to a local cloud vendor allows Nigerian startups data sovereignty, Bruce Ayonote, founder and CEO of Abuja-based cloud service provider Suburban Cloud, told Rest of World.

“How does it sound for Nigerian voters’ data to be stored in Europe?” Ayonote said. “As long as we continue to ask this question, we will always arrive at the point where we build our own cloud infrastructure.”

Digital sovereignty could be the differentiator that helps smaller cloud Nigerian startups thrive even as AWS starts accepting payments in naira. “We are keying into our data sovereignty narrative,” Chidi Okpala, head of media and corporate communications at Galaxy Backbone, told Rest of World. Galaxy Backbone is a privately held company established by the Nigerian government to build interoperability among its ministries. It has now grown into providing core cloud services to both government agencies and private companies. The company runs two data centers, one each in Abuja and Kano.

Ayonote said that storing data on local servers also helps mitigate latency — the delay that happens when a user takes an action and when they get a response. Suburban Cloud’s Abuja data center helps its customers like Netflix and Google reduce latency in Nigeria, he added.

“Latency is a big issue when it comes to cloud business and these global companies know that they have to build some forms of proximity to their users,” Ayonote said.

While setting up a data center can cost millions of dollars, small Nigerian teams have found a workaround to this with “colocation” or placing their servers in data centers that allow multiple firms to share one facility, Olumide Soyombo, co-founder of Nigerian IT services and consulting firm Bluechip Technologies, told Rest of World. Several of the new cloud services startups have rented spaces in large data centers built by telcos, banks, and legacy IT firms.

“We run our cloud services out of third-party data centers in Nigeria,” Oyaje Idoko, founder of Layer3, told Rest of World. “We currently have three availability zones operating out of two data centers in Lagos and one in Abuja.”

Open Access, a leading data center company in Africa, has seen an uptick in demand for “colocation and other services by local cloud providers, driven by the growing digital technology landscape, increasing demand and most importantly, the need for payment in local currency,” Obinna Adumike, the company’s head of converged digital infrastructure for Africa, told Rest of World.

Nigerian cloud providers, however, need to improve their infrastructure and build better interfaces to compete with global giants in the long run, Ugochukwu Okoro, founder and CEO of Lagos-based property technology company Muster, told Rest of World.

Muster migrated from AWS to a small, local cloud provider called GigaLayer last August. While he has been enjoying working with GigaLayer, Okoro said, the company doesn’t offer the kind of automation that AWS does.“Their services are great, but I understand a lot of users might not want to use them because of skill issues,” he said. “I have to manually integrate our system gradually, something most of my engineers can’t do because they are used to the seamless plug-and-play offered by AWS.”

By Damilare Dosunmu, rest of world