As Nigeria races to secure its digital future, the country’s most powerful telecom and infrastructure players are signalling that internet governance is too important to leave to chance.
By Chioma Obinagwam
Nigeria’s top telecommunications regulator and two of its most influential digital infrastructure companies are throwing their full weight behind a high-stakes internet governance forum holding in Lagos this week.
Confiance News learnt that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Digital Realty, and IHS Nigeria have confirmed support for the 2026 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum (NDSF) on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D), scheduled for Thursday, June 11, 2026, at the Banquet Hall, Welcome Centre Hotels, Lagos. The forum will be anchored on the theme: “Sustaining WSIS Vision with Multistakeholder Synergy in Nigeria.”
A statement obtained by Confiance News ahead of the event confirmed that NCC Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Dr. Aminu Maida will deliver the keynote address, focusing on the regulatory framework needed to sustain the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) vision through inclusive, multi-stakeholder partnerships.
IHS Nigeria, which manages a national footprint of over 16,000 telecom towers and 15,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables, joins data centre colocation leader Digital Realty as institutional backers of the forum, signalling the private sector’s growing stake in shaping Nigeria’s digital governance direction.
Ogbuefi Remmy Nweke, Editor-in-Chief of host organisation ITREALMS Media Group, was quoted in a statement sighted by Confiance News as saying the convergence of and infrastructure stakeholders at the forum was both timely and necessary.
”Achieving sustainable internet governance and digital trust requires an intentional alignment of regulation and infrastructure,” Nweke said. “The active collaboration of the NCC, IHS Nigeria, and Digital Realty ensures that the 2026 forum will move beyond mere dialogue to produce clear, actionable policy recommendations for our digital economy.”
The event will be chaired by Dr. Olusola Teniola, Director of Strategic Business Initiatives at ipNX Nigeria and former President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), who will deliver the chairman’s opening address on the 2026 NDSF blueprint.
Confiance News also confirmed that several other leading industry players have endorsed the 17th edition of the annual forum, including MTN Nigeria, the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), DNS infrastructure firm Upperlink Limited, and the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), which manages the .NG country code top-level domain.
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