NITDA Bolsters Startup Ecosystem through Strategic Cloud Partnership with Galaxy Backbone

NITDA Bolsters Startup Ecosystem through Strategic Cloud Partnership with Galaxy Backbone

ALIMOTU SHADIAT

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), through the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), has entered into a strategic partnership with Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) Nigeria’s foremost ICT infrastructure and shared services provider to provide subsidised sovereign cloud services for startups in the iHatch programme.

This collaboration is a critical step in Nigeria’s digital evolution, focusing on data sovereignty, digital inclusion, and the growth of indigenous innovation. Under this agreement, participating startups will be onboarded to the Galaxy Cloud Platform (GxCP), a sovereign infrastructure supported by Uptime-certified Tier III and Tier IV data centres, a nationwide fibre network, and advanced cybersecurity capabilities.

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of NITDA, stated that the partnership reinforces the Agency’s commitment to building a resilient and globally competitive startup ecosystem by providing access to essential digital infrastructure. MD/CEO of GBB, Professor Ibrahim Adeyanju, noted that the initiative empowers startups with secure, enterprise-grade cloud services at highly subsidised rates, allowing them to host data locally and strengthen Nigeria’s digital sovereignty. To ensure sustainability, GBB will use a tiered, milestone-based model where cloud credits are released across the “Build, Validate, and Scale” phases of a startup’s journey. These credits are valid for 12 months, after which startups transition to standard or pay-as-you-go billing.

The initiative includes a dedicated Startup Success Team from GBB to drive adoption, along with automated usage monitoring for resource optimization. Crucially, all post-credit billing will be in Nigerian Naira to protect startups from foreign exchange volatility. Abdul Malik Suleiman, GBB’s General Manager of Strategic Partnerships, described the move as a deliberate effort to bridge the gap between infrastructure and innovation. National Coordinator of ONDI, Victoria Fabunmi, added that integrating GBB’s sovereign cloud into iHatch enhances the capacity of startups to scale while using the right tools to compete globally. The iHatch programme has already trained over 160 startups across 37 hub partners, and this partnership is set to further accelerate innovation and scale within Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.