Data Infrastructure Will Attract Foreign Investments, MainOne Tells FG

Chief Operating Officer of MDXI, MainOne’s Data Centre, Mr. Gbenga Adegbiji, has revealed that proper data infrastructure can attract foreign investments. 

Adegbiji, during an interview with ThisDay, said the federal government should revamp its policies and create basic infrastructure that promotes effective data centre operations in Nigeria in order to attract foreign investments in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.

He said: “Investors do not invest based on what any government tells them, but they invest based on what they see, which has to do with growth indices and numbers. They look at the population report and the growth of the economy, including security of investments in the country, before they can invest in the country.

“Attracting foreign investments goes beyond what the Nigerian government is currently doing by merely visiting these investors in their countries to woo them to invest in Nigeria. They will surely come and invest if they see the need to invest in Nigeria, and a good example is the recent acquisition of MainOne by Equinix because MainOne has over the years, positioned its operations to a standard that is attractive to any foreign investor. 

“Investments are made based on numbers, foreseeable return on investments, and risk that is associated with a particular country”.

According to Adegbiji, for any willing investor to come to Nigeria to invest, there must be basic infrastructure on ground. Citing lack of adequate electricity supply, which is a basic infrastructure for data centre operation, Adegbiji said the lack of such basic infrastructure would make it difficult for investors to consider Nigeria as an investment destination. 

“Adequate and steady electricity supply is key to data centre operation because data centres consume a lot of electricity and any data centre operator will look at the stability of the electricity supply of a country, before venturing to invest in that country. If power is achieved, operators will be able to achieve up to 60 per cent of their operations in data centre business,” Adegbiji said. 

He, therefore, advised the government to revisit its policy on power and ensure stable supply of electricity for businesses, in order to attract investors into Nigeria’s technology space.