The United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) is supporting plans to develop two large‑scale, artificial intelligence‑ready data centres in Lagos and Delta states, marking one of the most significant digital‑infrastructure proposals in Nigeria to date. The facilities are expected to begin with a combined capacity of 60 to 70 megawatts, with room for expansion to 100MW.

Tech Digest reports that USTDA has awarded a $1.87 million grant to fund a feasibility study for the AFRIDATA Nigeria project, led by South Africa‑based infrastructure investment firm INFRAGORA Global Capital (Pty) Ltd. The agency has invited qualified U.S. firms to submit proposals to conduct the study, with a submission deadline of October 13, 2026, at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. The selected contractor will be paid from the USTDA grant.

USTDA did not state why bidding is restricted to U.S. firms for a project located in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation.

The AFRIDATA Nigeria initiative is the first phase of INFRAGORA’s broader plan to establish a network of open‑access data centres across Africa. Nigeria was chosen as the starting point, with USTDA estimating that the country’s data‑centre market is expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 14.2 per cent and could reach 226.7MW by 2029.

Under the development plan, the primary facility will be located in Lagos and built as a Tier IV, AI‑ready, cloud‑enabled data centre. The second facility in Delta State is expected to serve as a Tier III or Tier IV redundancy and disaster‑recovery site, offering similar cloud and computing capabilities. Together, the centres are designed to support thousands of traditional CPU server racks and hundreds of high‑density GPU racks required for advanced AI workloads.

According to Tech Digest, the infrastructure will operate through an AI computing, cloud and colocation model, enabling banks, telecommunications companies, cloud service providers and other institutions to lease computing and rack capacity. The project will be owned and operated by AFRIDATA Datacenter Nigeria Ltd, a special‑purpose vehicle incorporated in April 2026 and backed by INFRAGORA, institutional investors and a strategic data‑centre operator.

The USTDA‑funded feasibility study will evaluate the technical and commercial viability of the project, including bankability, market demand, regulatory considerations and financing requirements. It will also identify U.S. technology vendors capable of supplying equipment and services for the development.

USTDA said the study will assess the facilities’ ability to support AI workloads and is expected to create opportunities for American companies involved in AI software, cloud and data‑storage infrastructure, advanced networking, computing hardware and cybersecurity.

USTDA Deputy Director Thomas R. Hardy said Africa’s emerging AI infrastructure must be built on secure and trusted technologies, adding that the initiative could strengthen Nigeria’s digital economy while opening new opportunities for U.S. firms in the country’s expanding technology market.

INFRAGORA said the AFRIDATA platform aims to combine AI‑ready data centres, cloud infrastructure, reliable power, technology innovation and local capacity development as it expands across Africa. Beyond Nigeria, the firm plans AFRIDATA special‑purpose vehicles in Angola, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.

USTDA noted that Africa currently accounts for less than two per cent of global data‑centre capacity, forcing many users to rely on servers located outside the continent, which can affect connection speeds and infrastructure resilience. The Nigerian project, the agency said, could improve digital access and reliability for businesses and institutions while providing the infrastructure needed for cloud computing and increasingly data‑intensive AI applications.

The $1.87 million grant covers only the feasibility study. Construction of the proposed facilities—and their eventual expansion to 100MW—will depend on the study’s findings, financing arrangements and subsequent implementation.

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The General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, Mr Sam Adurogboye, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Adurogboye said that NCAA had been notified of the incident, stressing that it was the duty of regulatory authority to investigate such occurrences in order to ascertain what led to it.

He noted that the pilot acted in accordance with the Standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs) by making an air return immediately the left engine of the aircraft caught fire in-flight.

NAN recalls that the Delta Air Lines flight 55 which took off around 10:50 pm on Tuesday, made an air return less than an hour later due to an engine fault.

The pilot announced the evacuation of all the passengers on board within 90 seconds, after contacting the control towers when the left engine of the aircraft caught fire.

A statement signed by the United States carrier’s media consultant in Nigeria, Mr Tope Awe, on Wednesday, said the A330-200 had an issue with one of its two engines.

“The flight landed safely and customers exited the aircraft on the runway via emergency slides.

“Airport fire authorities met the aircraft upon arrival. Delta’s customers were bussed back to the terminal.

“Delta is aware of five customers reporting non-critical injuries as a result of the evacuation.

“Delta teams have provided overnight hotel accommodations to customers and will rebook customers on an alternate Delta aircraft Wednesday afternoon.

“The safety of Delta’s customers and crew members is always our top priority,” Awe said. (NAN)

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