CBN Mandates Local Data Hosting to Protect Nigeria’s Data Sovereignty

Emma Okonji

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s recent directive requiring financial institutions and fintech firms to host their payment data locally, effective January 1 2027, is expected to safeguard Nigeria’s data sovereignty and stimulate job creation, said Open Access Data Centres (OADC).

Dr. Ayotunde Coker, CEO of OADC, welcomed the move and noted that Nigeria’s existing data centres are ready to host all locally generated data from financial institutions and fintech firms without disruption, thereby protecting the country’s data sovereignty.

Coker said the directive had been long anticipated, as Nigerian data centres already possess robust infrastructure and the capacity to host data locally.

“OADC has built a strong data centre infrastructure that will enable banks to become much more agile. We have reliable data centre infrastructure with high quality. In terms of quality of infrastructure, actual scale of infrastructure, OADC is building out phase two of its data centre to 24 megawatts of the normal hyperscale density that will accept some of the AI type specific needs for liquid-based cooling, with hybrid architecture that allows enterprise cloud and AI. The changes are bringing significant scale,” Coker said.

Coker expressed confidence that Nigerian data centres can host local data, citing Lagos facilities that offer ample cooling, power, expandable racks, and scalability.

“I’m confident that we have the data center capacity to meet that data sovereignty requirement, and the build‑out trajectory that we have around the Lagos area is significant. South Africa has a significant build capacity, a good fill‑up trajectory, and Nigeria is also bringing in build capacity for data centres,” Coker further said.