NITDA, Galaxy Backbone Partner to Provide Subsidised Cloud Services for Startups
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NITDA, Galaxy Backbone Partner to Provide Subsidised Cloud Services for Startups
By Alabidun Shuaib AbdulRahman
The National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA has partnered Galaxy Backbone Limited to provide subsidised sovereign cloud services for startups participating in the iHatch programme.
The initiative, facilitated through the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation, is aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s digital ecosystem by promoting data sovereignty, digital inclusion, and indigenous innovation.
Under the agreement, startups enrolled in the iHatch programme will be onboarded onto the Galaxy Cloud Platform, a sovereign infrastructure supported by Tier III and Tier IV data centres, a nationwide fibre network, and advanced cybersecurity systems.
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Speaking on the development, the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said the partnership aligns with the agency’s mandate to build a resilient and globally competitive technology ecosystem.
He said, “This collaboration reinforces our commitment to nurturing a resilient and globally competitive startup ecosystem by ensuring access to critical digital infrastructure needed for innovation and growth.”
Also speaking, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone, Ibrahim Adeyanju, noted that the initiative would enable startups to access enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure at subsidised rates.
According to him, “The programme is designed to empower startups with secure, enterprise-grade cloud services at highly subsidised rates, enabling them to build, innovate, and scale while hosting their data locally. This will ultimately strengthen Nigeria’s digital sovereignty and economic resilience.”
Findings showed that the partnership will adopt a tiered, milestone-based model where cloud credits will be released across different phases of a startup’s growth cycle—Build, Validate, and Scale.
The credits, which will be valid for 12 months, will allow startups to utilise cloud resources before transitioning to standard subscription or pay-as-you-go billing models.
To ensure seamless adoption, Galaxy Backbone said it would deploy a dedicated Startup Success Team to support onboarding and provide guidance, alongside automated monitoring tools to optimise resource usage.
In addition, all post-credit billing will be conducted in naira, a move stakeholders say will shield startups from foreign exchange volatility.
Commenting on the initiative, the General Manager, Strategic Partnerships at Galaxy Backbone, Abdul Malik Suleiman, described the move as a strategic intervention to support innovation.
He said, “This collaboration represents a deliberate effort to bridge the gap between infrastructure and innovation by making world-class cloud services more accessible to Nigerian startups.”
On her part, the National Coordinator of ONDI, Victoria Fabunmi, said integrating sovereign cloud infrastructure into the iHatch programme would significantly enhance the capacity of startups to scale.
Fabunmi said, “By integrating Galaxy Backbone’s sovereign cloud into iHatch, we are equipping startups with the right digital tools to move from ideation to scale and compete effectively both locally and globally.”
The iHatch programme, supported by NITDA through ONDI, has trained over 160 startups across 37 hub partners nationwide.
