The Tier IV data centre that was inaugurated yesterday in Kano State would, among other things, increase Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and solidify the sustainability of the nation's digital economy, according to Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.
He made this statement yesterday, just after President Muhammadu Buhari had inaugurated the Galaxy Backbone regional office and data centre.
Pantami said, “This is the first-ever data centre in northern Nigeria. No data centre above this in the whole world because the Tier IV data centre is the best all over the world, and that is why the reliability is 99.999%.
“The significance of the centre to the digital economy is enormous as you know that the digital economy is the fastest growing economy in the country, even faster than the oil and gas sector. For instance, this is the first time ICT will contribute three times more than what oil and gas contribute to GDP with 18.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2022 while oil and gas contributed about 6 per cent. By implication, the data centre will increase the revenue generation of the federal government and that of the private sector and increase the GDP of the ICT,” Pantami noted.
Also speaking, the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Cui Jianchun, who applauded the collaboration of Nigeria and the Chinese government (through Huawei) in the area of Information technology development, disclosed a sustained working relationship with the government to build a global data system.
He said 5,000 youths would be trained in ICT knowledge through a Chinese own ICT firm, Huawei, stressed readiness to support Nigeria’s cyberspace and data intelligence.