CBN’s data localisation directive will put digital payment infrastructure to test - ITREALMS

Nigeria’s plan to require payment companies to host transaction data within the country is putting the infrastructure underpinning its fast-growing digital payments market to the test, with industry executives suggesting that moving large volumes of data could create operational and resilience challenges, reports ITREALMS.

Hakeem Adeniji-Adele, deputy managing director of eTranzact, said the scale of payment data currently hosted on cloud infrastructure presents a significant technical challenge ahead of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s January 1, 2027 compliance deadline.

“The amount of load that needs to be moved” makes the current timeline difficult, Adeniji-Adele said during a panel at GrowthX by Techeconomy in Lagos.

His comments shift the focus of the localisation debate beyond regulatory compliance to the capacity of Nigeria’s domestic digital infrastructure to absorb large financial workloads while maintaining service availability.

The CBN’s requirement is intended to strengthen control over payment data and support data sovereignty by requiring affected operators to host payment transaction data locally. 

However, implementation requires more than transferring databases from overseas cloud environments to Nigerian servers, as payment companies must also account for computing capacity, storage, backup and disaster-recovery systems, cybersecurity controls, connectivity, and power reliability.

Adeniji-Adele noted that separating the migration of computing and storage could allow operators to manage the transition without disrupting existing services.

This infrastructure challenge arrives as Nigeria seeks to expand its domestic data-centre and cloud ecosystem. Industry estimates cited at GrowthX suggest that payment-data localisation could generate demand for between 14 megawatts and 30 megawatts of additional IT capacity, depending on adoption levels and infrastructure requirements.

Other executives at the conference also raised questions regarding the regulatory framework surrounding the migration. Blessing Ehize, Chief Technology Officer at FCMB, stated that financial institutions require greater clarity on which data must be hosted locally and how hybrid-cloud environments will be treated under the policy.

Ultimately, the debate extends beyond whether payment companies can meet a deadline, raising a broader question about whether Nigeria possesses sufficient domestic computing, data-centre, power, and connectivity capacity to support its ambition for greater control over critical financial data. 

For Nigeria’s fintech and banking sectors, the outcome will shape future investments in local cloud infrastructure while influencing how financial institutions balance data sovereignty, security, resilience, and access to global digital infrastructure.