Nigeria is moving to bring more of its cloud infrastructure within the country, in a push to reduce reliance on overseas systems and keep more of the digital economy’s value at home.

More than 85% of Nigerian workloads now run on public clouds, according to Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). Nigeria also hosts only 22% of its 1,000 most-accessed websites locally, below the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 34%.

Nigeria wants to bring more of its cloud infrastructure onshore, betting that localising the systems that run its digital economy will reduce exposure to foreign infrastructure, keep more technology spending in the country and make critical services more resilient.

The push is being formalised through the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative, whose regulatory instruments were signed with Galaxy Backbone Limited, a government-owned ICT infrastructure and shared services provider, on August 5, 2026. The framework sets out the policy, technical and quality requirements for hosting more digital services in Nigeria.

Inuwa said the move builds on Nigeria’s 2019 Cloud First Policy, which sought to move government institutions away from standalone server rooms and data centres with high operating costs and towards cloud-based services.

“The idea then was, how can we encourage government agencies to stop spending money on building technology and let them patronise data centre providers, both local and international providers,” Inuwa told TechCabal in an interview in Abuja on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the two-day summit where the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative was signed.

But the policy also produced an unintended outcome: government and businesses moved rapidly to public clouds, without a corresponding expansion of local cloud infrastructure.

“People just started going to public cloud,” Inuwa said. “Yes, it’s easier to move to public cloud, but also we need to encourage building the local ecosystem.”

That has raised concerns about how much of the economic value generated by Nigeria’s digital economy is being captured outside the country.

“Imagine localising and keeping all that content locally,” he said. “The kind of innovation and economic activities you can create.”

The government’s argument is partly economic. Over 90% of Nigeria’s digital data and enterprise workloads are currently hosted on offshore servers, resulting in an estimated $850 million in annual capital flight as local banks, fintechs, and enterprises pay foreign cloud providers in US dollars.

This foreign-currency exposure leaves domestic businesses vulnerable to severe foreign exchange volatility and geopolitical risks. Expanding Nigeria’s domestic cloud and data-centre market—projected to reach $782 million by 2031—would allow companies to pay in local currency (Naira), retaining hundreds of millions of dollars locally while creating high-value jobs in network engineering, software, cybersecurity and content delivery.

“Imagine if you are paying in naira, jobs will be created in Nigeria,” Inuwa said. “Nigerians will be building content locally,” while investment in large data centres would create additional employment and business opportunities.

Inuwa said the push to localise cloud infrastructure is also about making Nigeria’s digital services more resilient. As more critical services move online, heavy reliance on infrastructure and connectivity outside the country can leave businesses and essential services exposed when international links are disrupted.

In March 2024, four major undersea cables serving West Africa—MainOne, WACS, SAT-3 and ACE—were damaged simultaneously in waters off Côte d’Ivoire. The outages disrupted internet connectivity across the region, exposing the risks of Nigeria’s reliance on international infrastructure and triggering widespread disruptions for businesses and essential services.

“For us, sovereignty is not about protectionism,” Inuwa said. “It’s not about closing our doors against the big cloud service providers, but it’s about asking them to come and build with us in Nigeria.”

The objective is to create a more resilient domestic infrastructure network capable of maintaining services even when individual locations or connections fail.

“The big picture is how can we build like a digital triangle in Nigeria, where we create resilience and service assurance,” Inuwa said. “Even if there is an earthquake in one location, everything can seamlessly fall over to another location.”

Nigeria could also strengthen its position as a regional cloud hub for West and Central Africa, using its large internet market and growing subsea cable capacity to attract hyperscale cloud facilities and carrier-neutral data centres.

NITDA said the policy is not intended to displace public cloud services or exclude global providers from the Nigerian market. Instead, the agency wants major cloud providers, or hyperscalers, to deploy and operate more infrastructure locally.

Inuwa said the government had previously granted waivers allowing institutions to use public cloud services, but it eventually began pressing providers for clearer localisation plans.

“We can’t continue giving you waivers,” he said. “We need to have a roadmap on when you are going to localise some of this infrastructure in Nigeria.”

One obstacle was the argument from some hyperscalers that Nigerian data centres did not meet the technical requirements needed to support their infrastructure.

It was to address these concerns that NITDA brought hyperscalers and local data-centre operators together at the summit to discuss the technical and regulatory barriers to local deployment. The discussions led to a technical working group comprising local providers and global cloud companies, which developed the framework for the sovereign cloud initiative.

The framework includes guidelines covering data classification, technical requirements for cloud service providers and digital quality assurance. Providers will have to meet defined standards and certifications to host certain categories of services.

The initiative also seeks to address cost, a major barrier to local adoption, as cloud infrastructure in Nigeria has historically been more expensive than hosting workloads abroad, making overseas public cloud providers more attractive to startups and other businesses.

NITDA and Galaxy Backbone are working on a plan to offer startups cloud services at lower costs and allow them to pay in naira, according to Inuwa. He expects greater local capacity to increase competition and put downward pressure on prices.

“Today, because of lack of competition, that’s why the hyperscalers choose their own price,” Inuwa said. “But if there is competition in terms of capacity and availability locally, people will go and buy where they can get cheaper.”

The government is considering incentives to attract investment in local cloud infrastructure, although Inuwa did not specify what those incentives would be. He said the sovereign cloud governance committee will determine where government support is needed as implementation begins, with its strategy focused on policy and regulation, funding and investment, skills, innovation and local content, cybersecurity, and digital trust.

Funding will be critical to expanding domestic capacity. Inuwa pointed to Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MoFi) investment in Galaxy Backbone Limited and its seat on the board of the public company as an example of how public capital can support infrastructure development.

Ibrahim Adeyanju, managing director and chief executive of Galaxy Backbone, said the initiative could help attract more investment into Nigeria’s digital infrastructure and strengthen its position in the regional data-centre market.

“More importantly, the initiative has the potential to catalyse increased investment in data centre infrastructure across the country,” he said, “positioning Nigeria as the leading regional hub for data centres serving West and Central Africa.”

For Nigerian startups, the immediate test will be whether local providers can offer the price, capacity and performance needed to compete with established global cloud platforms. For government agencies and larger businesses, the bigger question is whether domestic infrastructure can support increasingly demanding workloads, including AI, while maintaining the reliability, security and resilience required for critical services.

“Our goal is not to take the public cloud away, but to get the hyperscalers localised,” Adeyanju said.

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Nigeria’s new virtual asset tax guidelines do more than tax crypto traders. They turn cryptocurrency exchanges, brokers, custodians, wallet operators, and peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace operators into extensions of the country’s tax collection network.

Under the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) framework, a Nigerian virtual asset service provider (VASP) may have to deduct withholding tax on qualifying virtual asset sales, withhold stamp duty in Bitcoin or USDT, charge value-added tax (VAT) on exchange and service fees, file multiple tax returns, maintain transaction records for six years, and pay up to 30% company income tax on its own profits.

The rules come as Nigeria seeks to strengthen non-oil revenue collection. Company income tax collections fell 8.08% quarter-on-quarter in Q1 2026 to ₦1.37 trillion ($1 billion), according to the National Bureau of Statistics, adding pressure on authorities to improve tax compliance across emerging sectors.

“VASPs, like every other company, shall bear their own corporate income tax liability on their revenues,” the NRS said in the guidelines. “This is separate from their deduction of tax at source obligations.”

That distinction is important. A virtual asset company is not simply remitting taxes it collects from users; it is also a taxpayer in its own right. Beyond paying company income tax on their own profits, VASPs must build systems to identify taxable transactions, calculate and withhold different taxes, reconcile token-denominated collections with fiat VAT obligations, maintain detailed records, file multiple returns, and respond to regulatory requests.

The requirements could increase compliance costs and force companies to expand their finance and compliance teams. They could also require changes to internal systems for onboarding, settlement, custody, and reconciliation.

The accounting advantage

Not every aspect of the guidelines is unfavourable to crypto businesses and investors. One potentially significant provision is how the NRS wants taxpayers to account for gains on virtual assets when the naira depreciates. The guidelines indicate that taxpayers should not be taxed simply because a virtual asset’s naira value increased as a result of currency depreciation.

Consider an exchange that buys Bitcoin worth ₦1 million when the exchange rate is ₦1,000 to the dollar. If it later sells the Bitcoin for ₦1.97 million, but the naira has weakened to ₦1,500 to the dollar by the time of the sale, a simple naira comparison would suggest a ₦970,000 gain.

The NRS approach instead requires the transaction to be converted to dollars. The purchase would be valued at $1,000, while the sale would be worth roughly $1,313 at the new exchange rate applicable at the same time. The underlying gain would therefore be about $313, rather than the entire ₦970,00 increase in naira terms. That $313 gain would then be converted into naira for tax purposes.

The principle is straightforward: the taxpayer should be taxed on the real increase in the value of the asset, rather than on an increase caused solely by the depreciation of the naira.

The guidelines contain another important provision for VASPs: when a company buys Bitcoin, the 1.5% stamp duty is deducted from the Bitcoin received rather than from the cash paid.

Suppose a company pays ₦1 million for Bitcoin and, before the deduction, would have received 1 BTC. After the 1.5% stamp duty, it receives 0.985 BTC. The NRS treats the company as having paid ₦1 million for 0.985 BTC, not for 1 BTC. In effect, the stamp duty forms part of the acquisition cost of the Bitcoin rather than being treated as a separate deduction when the asset is sold.

The bigger operational challenge, however, falls on exchanges.

A ₦1 million Bitcoin trade can trigger several tax obligations: stamp duty when the Bitcoin is acquired, VAT on the exchange’s trading fee, withholding tax where applicable when the Bitcoin is disposed of, and tax on any taxable gain realised by the user. The exchange may be responsible for collecting and remitting several of those taxes even though only the trading fee is its own revenue.

The compliance burden becomes more complicated because the taxes may be accounted for in different forms. Stamp duty and withholding can be remitted in the relevant virtual asset, while VAT is remitted in the currency used for the transaction.

An exchange could, therefore, be holding Bitcoin collected as stamp duty, another virtual asset collected as withholding tax, USDT received as service fees, and naira reserved for VAT remittance, while simultaneously managing price volatility, custody, reconciliation, and regulatory reporting.

And after all of that, the company remains liable for company income tax on its own taxable profits.

P2P trading doesn’t escape the tax net

Peer-to-peer (P2P) trading has become one of the most popular ways for Nigerians to buy and sell crypto. Years of restrictions on direct bank-to-crypto deposits pushed retail users toward P2P platforms. The new guidelines bring that market firmly within the tax framework, although the compliance obligations vary depending on how a platform operates.

A VASP that holds customers’ assets in escrow must collect and remit the taxes applicable to every transaction processed through its platform. Platforms that match buyers and sellers without taking custody of assets (non-escrow P2Ps) are instead required to verify users, collect Tax Identification Numbers (TINs), maintain transaction records, and report every transaction to the NRS.

Individuals who trade outside recognised platforms—including through informal channels such as WhatsApp, Telegram, or private chats—remain responsible for declaring and paying any taxes due on those transactions.

VAT applies to many of the revenue-generating services that VASPs offer. A change in ownership of a virtual asset, by itself, does not trigger VAT, but many of the services that VASPs provide in connection with those transactions may still be subject to VAT.

The guidelines apply 7.5% VAT to exchange fees charged by VASPs, brokerage commissions, custody fees, wallet management fees, listing fees, transaction facilitation fees, advisory services, digital platform service fees, professional services rendered in connection with virtual assets, and “every other taxable service supplied for consideration.”

An exchange charging a ₦10,000 trading fee would therefore collect ₦10,750, and remit the ₦750 VAT fee to the NRS. The exchange keeps the underlying fee revenue, but it also assumes responsibility for VAT calculation, reconciliation, reporting, and remittance.

Foreign firms are not excluded. A non-resident VASP providing taxable digital services to Nigerian users must comply with Nigeria’s registration and compliance rules for foreign digital service providers. If the foreign provider does not charge VAT, the Nigerian resident business receiving the service must self-account for the VAT liability.

VASPs face a ₦10 million ($7,340) fine in the first month of non-compliance, followed by ₦1 million ($734) for every additional month of default. Companies that fail to deduct tax at source can be charged 40% of the tax that should have been withheld, while failure to remit already deducted taxes attracts the unpaid tax, a 10% annual penalty and interest linked to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy rate. Separate penalties also apply for failing to register, file returns, or keep adequate records.

The framework also imposes penalties for non-payment of tax, failure to attend to NRS notices and requests, false VAT refund claims, failure to disclose facts in a dutiable instrument, and failure to notify changes of address.

The cumulative effect is that Nigeria is not merely taxing crypto profits. It is taxing the infrastructure businesses that enable crypto activity while simultaneously requiring those businesses to enforce, collect, report, and remit taxes on behalf of the state.

Stablecoins become a more expensive digital dollar

The NRS guidelines apply a 1.5% stamp duty to stablecoins, including dollar-backed stablecoins such as USDT, USDC, BUSD, DAI, and PYUSD.

Stablecoins are blockchain-based digital tokens designed to maintain a stable value relative to an underlying asset, most commonly a fiat currency such as the US dollar, euro, or naira.

The NRS says gains on stablecoins are generally “nil or negligible” because they are measured against their underlying fiat currency; the stamp duty still applies when businesses acquire stablecoins.

This means businesses can incur stamp duty when acquiring stablecoins, including when they are acquired for cross-border payments. The guidelines exempt transfers between wallets owned by the same person. There is also an exemption from withholding tax on the sale or exchange of stablecoins, although any taxable gains must still be reported through the taxpayer’s annual tax return.

“The stamp duty is withheld from the token credited to the transferee and does not reduce the fiat consideration payable under the transaction,” NRS said in the guidelines.

A business paying ₦1 million to buy 1,000 USDT at ₦1,000 per token would still pay the full ₦1 million, but receive only 985 USDT after 15 USDT—deducted from the transaction amount, and not taxed separately—is withheld as stamp duty. In effect, the buyer pays the same amount of naira but receives fewer tokens, increasing the effective acquisition cost to roughly ₦1,015 per USDT.

That distinction matters for businesses using stablecoins as a payment rail.

Stablecoins have become a popular way for Nigerian businesses to settle cross-border invoices, hedge naira volatility, and access digital dollars more quickly than through traditional banking channels. Under the new framework, every conversion from naira into stablecoins carries an additional tax cost before the payment even leaves Nigeria.

A Nigerian importer seeking to pay a foreign supplier 10,000 USDC, for example, would have only 9,850 USDC available for transfer after stamp duty unless they acquire additional tokens upfront. Businesses using stablecoins for international payments will therefore need to factor the tax into treasury planning and foreign payment costs.

The rules also raise the compliance burden for crypto firms. Exchanges must withhold stamp duty in digital tokens, remit taxes, maintain detailed records, and comply with multiple reporting requirements, turning what was once a straightforward naira-to-stablecoin conversion into a more complex tax process.

VASPs have become gatekeepers that must be vigilant and account for every taxable outflow, or face penalties.

The eNaira may have just gained a tax edge

One of the most consequential aspects of the NRS framework is what it excludes. The guidelines exempt central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) from the treatment that applies to virtual assets. Nigeria’s eNaira, as well as foreign CBDCs held by Nigerian residents, is treated much like ordinary fiat currency rather than a taxable virtual asset. A business converting naira into USDT or USDC may face 1.5% stamp duty and VAT on intermediary service fees; the eNaira does not fall within that framework.

In Nigeria, stablecoins operate at a far larger scale than the eNaira. In the country’s Payments System Vision 2028 (PSV 2028), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the eNaira has processed about ₦22 billion ($16 million) in transactions since its 2021 launch. Comparatively, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said stablecoins accounted for about 65% of Nigeria’s crypto inflows in 2024. Between July 2023 and June 2024, Nigeria received about $59 billion in crypto inflows, a figure that exceeds the total value the eNaira has processed throughout its five-year existence.

The government has not said the eNaira is intended as a tax-efficient alternative to USDT or USDC, and ordinary income earned in eNaira may still be taxed under existing income tax rules for fiat currency. However, when combined with the CBN’s PSV 2028, the new guidelines could make CBDCs appear cheaper and simpler to use than privately issued stablecoins for frequent payments and cross-border transactions. If more retail investors begin to transact using the eNaira and other foreign CBDCs, it could encourage crypto firms and VASPs to list and distribute those currencies, increasing adoption.

As Nigeria issues its virtual asset tax rules—the clearest sign that the previously Wild West sector is becoming mainstream, a good thing for the industry—the country is not only taxing crypto users. It is also taxing the companies that make crypto transactions possible, while using those same companies to cNigeria is making crypto companies collect taxes for the governmentollect the taxes.

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Africa Fashion Week London 2026 is delighted to welcome back Princess Adesile as our Official Ambassador.

A modern Yoruba royal from Nigeria and an accomplished equestrian, Princess Adesile embodies a new generation of African cultural ambassadors who honour tradition and embrace innovation, creativity and contemporary leadership.

While her royal heritage is deeply rooted in Yoruba culture, her influence extends far beyond it. Princess Adesile has become widely recognised for her passion for equestrianism and her striking appearances at the renowned Ojude Oba Festival, where she has helped bring the centuries-old tradition of ceremonial horseback riding to the attention of a new global audience and inspired a greater visibility for female riders.

Her attendance at AFWL2025 last year demonstrated her in the middle of a powerful intersection of fashion, heritage and African culture. From wearing traditional Yoruba-inspired regalia to contemporary fashion, she portrayed the idea that African fashion is more than just clothing; it is history, identity and storytelling brought to life. Now returning to our catwalk, in regalia or the latest designer collections, she’ll portray the idea that African fashion is more than just clothing; it is history, identity and storytelling brought to life.

Princess Adesile always carries herself with confidence and an unwavering pride in her heritage, making her a fitting ambassador for a platform that celebrates the diversity and future of African traditions.

Come and meet her at AFWL2026. Unfortunately, she won’t be bringing her horses!

“Some titles are earned, but this one feels like home.

Being the Cultural Ambassador for African Fashion Week London is more than an honour; it’s a privilege to be part of a family that celebrates our stories, our heritage, and the beauty of African fashion with so much love. Thank you, AFWL, for believing in me.

Here’s to continuing this beautiful journey together!”

Princess Adesile

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Morocco faces a dual challenge: traditional family-based elder care is eroding under urbanization, youth migration, and women’s workforce participation, while its rapidly aging population risks isolation and unmet health needs without formal alternatives. Healthy elders offer immense value as cultural preservers, civic leaders, and community stabilizers, as seen, for example, Elderly carethrough Amazigh grandmothers safeguarding their indigenous lifestyle and Jewish elders maintaining Morocco’s Sephardic heritage at restored synagogues and care homes. Current underinvestment in formal care systems exacerbates vulnerabilities rather than harnessing this potential. This analysis examines demographic presShould Morocco Adopt Alternatives for Elderly Care?sures, care gaps, and elders’ community contributions, and proposes a balanced national aging strategy that supports both family and institutional care.

According to projections from the High Commission for Planning (HCP), highlighted by journalist Sara Zouiten, Morocco’s population over the age of 60 will reach 5.8 million by 2030, representing 15.4% of the total population, driven by rising life expectancies and falling birth rates. Scholar Mostafa Bouaoudate observes that most elderly Moroccans live “almost entirely in ordinary houses,” even though informal caregivers often lack training or resources to meet their safety and accessibility needs. Religious and cultural norms emphasizing family duty, combined with high youth unemployment and declining household wealth, reinforce the dependence on family-based care. Further, strong stigma surrounds nursing homes, yet urban families are increasingly turning to such alternatives under modern pressures.

Models like Morocco’s Jewish elderly residences show formal care aligning with cultural duty. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) supported homes that provide subsidized housing, medical supervision, and religious programming, allowing elders without local kin to age safely while maintaining religious traditions like Shabbat observance. Although new care centers signal progress, long-term eldercare in Morocco remains largely a familial, not a societal, responsibility, hindering the expansion of sustainable alternatives as the aging population grows.

Retirement often brings financial strain for elderly Moroccans, with only 16% receiving pensions and most relying on families already burdened by high unemployment and youth migration. Without reliable caregivers, residential isolation accelerates health decline, contributing to dizziness, falls, depression, and medication mismanagement, while stigma around nursing homes delays formal alternatives. In the Arab region, care remains overwhelmingly family-based and unpaid, delivered mainly by women under cultural norms that see elders as “treasures,” yet economic pressures increasingly undermine this tradition. This stems from a “male-breadwinner” social policy model that prioritizes men’s employment while assuming female family members will handle family care needs, rendering alternative formal options taboo for many. Even so, urban middle-class families are turning to alternatives that address the psychological and physical tolls of aging, improving quality of life and medication oversight where households fall short. Though historically home-centered, long-term care is gaining middle-class acceptance amid space constraints and financial limits, signaling increasing readiness for the expansion of formal systems.

Healthy elders serve as custodians of cultural continuity and institutional memory through mentorship, volunteering, and knowledge sharing. In Amazigh communities, older people help preserve language (awal), land ties (akkal), and culture (ddham) amid urbanization and climate change. Writer and activist Lillie Aissa-Jeanrenaud observes that Amazigh elders, especially grandmothers, “embody the link between our ancient customs and the rapid erosion of these ways of life,” cautioning that climate change, rural exodus, and market pressures make traditional ways of living seem outdated. She warns that these practices, which once wholly sustained these communities, are threatened both by environmental crises and by society’s waning appreciation of its roots. In this context, elders act as cultural anchors vital to community resilience.

Morocco’s Jewish community illustrates how elder care policy intersects with the survival of minority communities and the preservation of national heritage. As Serge Berdugo, President and Secretary General of CCIM, notes, Morocco has become “an international benchmark for heritage preservation,” with extensive restoration efforts of Jewish cultural sites overseen by community leadership. He also argues that Morocco’s identity includes a “Hebrew component” that is integral to the nation and that should be preserved through revitalization initiatives. Berdugo’s perspectives strengthen the point that Jewish elders are not only care recipients, but also indispensable to preserving Moroccan Jewish religious memory, communal continuity, and Morocco’s multicultural identity.

Once numbering approximately 300,000 in the mid-twentieth century, Morocco’s Jewish population has declined to around 2,000 today, with a disproportionately elderly demographic. As a result of the demographic decline, older members are not only valuable from a care perspective but also serve as critical repositories of institutional and historical memory. Moroccan-Jewish elderly represent one of the last living bridges to Morocco’s pluralistic past, preserving religious practices, linguistic traditions, and the lived experience of Muslim-Jewish coexistence.

At JDC-supported institutions like the Fred and Velva Levine Community Residence, residents celebrate Shabbat and other holidays together, sustaining communal life. Meanwhile, state-backed restoration efforts of 167 Jewish cemeteries, synagogues, and neighborhoods further reinforce elders’ role as stewards of Morocco’s multicultural heritage, much like how Amazigh grandmothers preserve indigenous knowledge. The Amazigh majority and Jewish minority both illustrate how elders stabilize identity amid urbanization, youth migration, and globalization. Ensuring the well-being of this demographic is not only a social policy concern, but also a cultural imperative; the loss of this generation risks the disappearance of irreplaceable knowledge and heritage.

When younger generations engage with elders, they inherit these long-established ways of living, learning to sustain endangered cultural practices. Beyond the Moroccan contexts, older adults everywhere strengthen intergenerational bonds through volunteering, mentorship, and caregiving. They transmit wisdom, help resolve conflicts, and promote social cohesion while also driving civic and economic life. In Morocco, over-60s had a 94.4% voter registration rate in the 2021 election, reinforcing them as essential participants in shaping policy. Investing in elder care and engagement not only protects their well-being but also sustains their capacity to enrich local communities, transmit culture, and strengthen democracy long-term.

Morocco urgently needs a coordinated national aging plan that invests in both formal care options and stronger family support systems. Addressing Morocco’s aging challenge will require a systematic approach that positions elder care as a national priority. Government ministries can play central roles in integrating healthcare provision and heritage preservation efforts. Civil society organizations are well-positioned to deliver community-based services and foster intergenerational engagement, while local authorities can adapt age-friendly infrastructure to distinct regional needs.

Institutions like the Mohammed VI Foundation for Solidarity can further support vulnerable elderly populations through targeted social programs. Rabat-based journalist Sara Zouiten recommends small, community-based day centers and residences offering medical care and social connection for isolated elders. Funded through government, NGO, and local partnerships, these facilities could ensure affordability and scalability. Such centers could also draw inspiration from Jewish models like JDC’s physiotherapy-equipped residences for over 47+ elders that combine healthcare and cultural continuity.

Trialing similar initiatives in cities like Casablanca and Fez could connect isolated elders, train young caregivers, create jobs, and revitalize heritage spaces. Building the eldercare workforce should focus on training unemployed youth as certified caregivers to meet rising demand while tackling joblessness. Importantly, Morocco’s Jewish community and diaspora networks can serve as key partners in developing culturally appropriate care models that sustain religious and cultural practices.

Meanwhile, financial reform must extend pensions and healthcare to informal workers and introduce care insurance for home-based families under economic strain. Urban policies that adopt age-inclusive design, such as safe housing, accessible neighborhoods, and intergenerational models like those in Canada and South Korea, would reduce loneliness and rebuild community ties. Education and community outreach can also drive cultural change. Incorporating lessons on elder respect into school curricula and encouraging youth volunteer programs would help dismantle stigma around formal care facilities and restore intergenerational solidarity.

Ultimately, Morocco’s current neglect of long-term care, caregiver training, and medication oversight leaves families overburdened amid rapid urban and workforce shifts. Framing elder care as a shared responsibility across public, private, and community actors enhances the feasibility and long-term sustainability of change. A national framework, supported by comparative studies of family and facility-based care, could identify effective models and ensure that elders remain healthy, active contributors to Morocco’s cultural and civic life.

By strategically investing in both formal care alternatives and strengthened family support systems, Morocco can ensure its elderly population remains healthy, engaged, and capable of serving as cultural guardians, civic leaders, and community stabilizers. From Amazigh grandmothers transmitting language, land ties, and culture against climate and urban threats, to Jewish elders in Casablanca’s JDC-supported residences preserving Sephardic rituals, multilingual liturgies, and synagogue traditions amid a demographic decline from 300,000 to 2,000 people, elders embody irreplaceable heritage links across a diverse Morocco.

A dual approach, addressing current policy gaps through national aging plans, caregiver training, age-inclusive urban design, and stigma-reducing education, directly transforms demographic pressures into social assets, as proven in the Jewish community’s hybrid model of philanthropic residences alongside state restorations of 167 synagogues and cemeteries. Ultimately, empowering elders preserves their wisdom and voter influence to build resilient, cohesive communities, honoring Morocco’s multicultural legacy. Preserving Morocco’s aging population, particularly historically significant communities like the Moroccan-Jewish demographic, requires coordinated action across government, civil society, and private actors to safeguard both social welfare and cultural memory.

By Kai Schnitzius, Seattle, Washington

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Kai Schnitzius is a volunteer with the High Atlas Foundation and a graduate of Seattle University, with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and Political Science.

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