President Muhammadu Buhari today commissioned the National Tier IV Data Center in Kano. The Tier IV data center is positioned to attract organizations looking to deepen their digital services at a greatly reduced cost of technology infrastructure, improved efficiency and productivity.
During the ceremony, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Ali Isa Pantami, said the data center was the first of its kind in Northern Nigeria and the best in the country.
According to the minister, the center is an upgraded technology facility built to provide more storage facilities for the public and private sectors across the country, with its 41 terabytes of memory capacity and 2.2 petabytes of storage capacity.
Prof. Pantami further stated that the Tier IV data center, run by Galaxy Backbone Limited. it would enhance the digital economy, provide job opportunities and improve cyber security while supporting the country to consolidate the gains of the digital economy.
“The government has its main data center in Abuja, another one in the south, which is a backup, and this is another one in the northwest.
“The one in Abuja and the one in the South were established a few years ago. But this center here is higher because it’s a Tier IV data center. The one we have in Abuja is a tier three data center. So this is an update to the existing data centers that we have in the country in both the public and private sectors. It’s world class.” Pantami revealed.
Tier IV Data Center Benefits
It has been widely reported that more than five quintillion bytes of data are generated daily by people around the world. Significantly, 51% of this, by 2025, will be stored in data centers and 49% will be in the public cloud.
With the volume of data being generated in corporate organizations and industries at an alarming rate, this Nigerian Galaxy Backbone project aligns with national aspirations to be an active player in global digitization. The country is destined to become one of the most recognized digital economies in the world.
The Tier IV data center will help implement a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure and apply international best practices to support public sector organizations with sensitive data and a growing number of private sector organizations to deliver services.
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It will also improve business continuity through cloud and disaster recovery services. The infrastructure has been specifically built to meet the desire of its growing customer and stakeholder base. The Tier IV data center will help with disaster recovery, backup and redundancy and will significantly enhance and deepen the momentum of Nigeria’s digital economy.
Professor Pantami had previously identified “Robust Infrastructure” as one of the eight pillars of key instruments to help propel Nigeria towards digital transformation in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020-2030) document. This Tier IV data center will make Nigeria a digitally transformed nation.
According to Professor Muhammad Bello Abubakar, CEO of GBB, the company does not compete with other private bodies, “our goal is to collaborate with other private sector ICT companies to enhance digital transformation in Nigeria. Therefore, I invite you all to take advantage of this Tier IV data center for the collective benefit of our customers and stakeholders.”
Nigeria, closer to digital transformation
The Tier IV data center in Kano is the latest step by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in turning Nigeria into one of the world’s most recognized digital economies. Last month, a National Shared Services Center was commissioned, housing a Cybersecurity Operations Center, a Network Center and a Call Center.
Last week, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved passage of Nigeria’s Data Protection Bill to the National Assembly for further deliberations. The bill will be sent through the Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Minister of Justice.
