The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has entered into a strategic partnership with Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) to deliver subsidised sovereign cloud services to startups participating in the iHatch programme.
The development was disclosed in a statement signed by Hadiza Umar, Director of Corporate Communications and Media Relations at NITDA, who said the collaboration is aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s digital ecosystem through improved access to critical infrastructure.
The partnership, facilitated through NITDA’s Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), focused on promoting data sovereignty, digital inclusion, and indigenous innovation. Under the arrangement, startups will be onboarded onto the Galaxy Cloud Platform, a sovereign infrastructure backed by Uptime-certified Tier III and Tier IV data centres, a nationwide fibre network, and enhanced cybersecurity systems.
Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said the initiative underscored the agency’s commitment to building a resilient and globally competitive startup ecosystem.
On his part, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of GBB, Ibrahim Adeyanju, noted that the initiative would enable startups to access secure, enterprise-grade cloud services at subsidised rates, allowing them to host data locally and enhance Nigeria’s digital sovereignty.
He explained that the programme would adopt a tiered, milestone-based model, where cloud credits are disbursed across the “Build, Validate, and Scale” phases of a startup’s lifecycle, with credits valid for 12 months before transitioning to standard or pay-as-you-go billing.
The initiative also featured a dedicated Startup Success Team from GBB to support adoption, alongside automated monitoring tools to optimise resource usage, while all post-credit billing will be conducted in Nigerian Naira to shield startups from foreign exchange volatility.
General Manager, Strategic Partnerships at GBB, Abdul Malik Suleiman, described the partnership as a deliberate move to bridge the gap between infrastructure and innovation, while National Coordinator of ONDI, Victoria Fabunmi, said the integration would significantly enhance the capacity of startups to scale and compete globally.
The iHatch programme has so far trained over 160 startups across 37 hub partners, with the new partnership expected to further accelerate innovation and growth within Nigeria’s digital economy.
