Huawei made a significant move in Nigeria’s digital landscape by launching the country’s first local cloud services. This groundbreaking step positions Huawei as the first international cloud provider to offer such services in Nigeria. Using advanced Tier 3+ data centres, Huawei Cloud promises to deliver some of the fastest cloud services in the country, with an impressive latency of just 15ms.
These local data centres are designed to cater specifically to Nigerian businesses and industries, providing them with secure data storage and computing resources that remain within the country’s borders. This ensures compliance with Nigeria’s data protection regulations, which focus on limiting cross-border data transfer and requiring that all data is kept within the country.
The launch event, held in Lagos and themed “Leap Now With A Better Cloud,” marked a major milestone in Nigeria’s technological journey. It also aligns with the objectives of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), which aims to strengthen data sovereignty and protect local businesses and citizens from potential international data risks.
Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, attended the event and expressed his enthusiasm for the launch. He shared, “Lagos State has been working with Huawei for a while, and today’s event reaches its zenith with the launch of the Huawei Local Cloud. This marks a significant milestone for Nigeria in our journey towards technology advancement. The introduction of a local cloud by Huawei is a huge deal because it would largely help businesses and everyone, as it’ll also enhance sovereignty. I encourage all to embrace these ideas as they set a transformative course for Lagos, Nigeria, and Africa at large.”
The event was also highlighted by comments from Chris Lu, CEO of Huawei Nigeria, who underscored the importance of data security in today’s digital age. “Not knowing where your data is stored is terrifying. The Huawei local cloud provides a world where your data and that of your customers are safely protected. For Huawei, it’s important that we build in Nigeria because we have been working with our local partners who are great in developing applications and services for various industries and consumers. So, it became imperative to serve them with a local cloud which helps us provide better latency and better services to our customers so that they feel confident, and secure while ensuring the data sovereignty of their customers.”
Roc Bai, Vice President of Huawei Cloud Sub-Sahara Africa, also shared his insights on the significance of the launch. He explained, “We believe local cloud is the best practice architecture for digital transformation today. Digital transformation is a complex systematic project, and enterprises need to respond to industry transformation and upgrading challenges with systematic thinking and innovative architectures.”
