Open Access Data Centres (OADC), a subsidiary of the WIOCC Group, has announced plans to expand its Lagos data center to 24 megawatts by 2027, a project estimated to cost $240 million.
The expansion is part of a broader $500 million investment plan, first unveiled in 2021, to develop data centre infrastructure across Africa.
Located in Lekki, OADC’s Lagos facility serves as the landing station for Google’s Equiano subsea cable in Nigeria. The data center, which became operational two months ago, is currently running at 1.5 megawatts of its planned capacity. The company plans to complete the expansion in phases, eventually reaching 24 megawatts over the next three years.
“One megawatt capacity of a data centre costs about $10 million. We are building 24 megawatts, which is about $240 million—a huge investment,” said Ayotunde Coker, Chief Executive Officer of OADC, during a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday.
The project will be supported by international finance partners, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Proparco, a development finance institution under the Agence Française de Développement Group. The financing is structured as sustainability-linked debt, meaning the cost of borrowing is tied to WIOCC’s commitment to improving energy efficiency and achieving EDGE green building certification for its data centers.
“It’s a massive investment with huge capital requirements. We were among those who announced sustainability-linked financing. Meeting sustainability targets allows us to access additional funding, which keeps us accountable,” Coker explained.
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Coker, who previously served as the CEO of Rack Centre, one of Nigeria’s leading data centre providers, emphasized that OADC’s ambition is to become the data center hub for West Africa. The Tier III-certified Lagos facility is equipped with a 33,000-volt power supply and an 11kV distribution network, ensuring dedicated transformers and power distribution rooms for each phase of the project.
OADC’s Lagos data center plays a critical role in Nigeria’s digital infrastructure, providing support for cloud services, content delivery, and enterprise connectivity. The company estimates the project timeline to be approximately 18 months, though Coker acknowledged that projects of this scale typically take more than two years due to the complexities of design and execution.
Beyond Lagos, OADC is exploring further expansion opportunities across Nigeria and other African markets, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Africa. The company already operates data centers in Lagos, Kinshasa, and four South African locations—Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town.
