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Nigeria

CBN and NITDA press firms to store payment data in Nigeria by January 2027

Banks, fintechs and payment processors face a January 1, 2027 deadline to keep Nigerian payment transaction data in the country, raising demand for local data center capacity.

Photo: New Telegraph

What happened

The Central Bank of Nigeria and the National Information Technology Development Agency renewed their appeal to banks, fintech firms and payment service providers to store critical payment transaction data within Nigeria before the January 1, 2027 compliance deadline. ZAWYA The appeal came at the CBN-NITDA Executive Regulatory Dialogue on the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative and data localisation, held in Lagos. ZAWYA The CBN directive requires financial institutions and participants in the payments system to ensure that payment transaction data generated in Nigeria is stored and managed in the country. forbesafrica.com+1 The central bank set out the requirement in a circular issued on June 15 to deposit money banks, microfinance banks, mobile money operators, switching and processing companies, payment terminal service providers, payment solution service providers, super agents and other licensed operators. New Telegraph

Around it

Regulators said local storage is essential for protecting Nigeria's digital sovereignty, improving oversight of the financial system, safeguarding sensitive customer information and building resilience as digital payments and cloud services expand. ZAWYA The CBN said in the circular that the measures aim to protect the integrity of the Nigerian payments system and ensure localisation of payments transaction data within Nigeria. New Telegraph Ayotunde Coker, CEO of data center operator Open Access Data Centres, said engagement with companies seeking local infrastructure has increased since the directive, describing the level of requests as reasonable. forbesafrica.com

What comes next

The compliance deadline for local storage of payment transaction data is January 1, 2027. forbesafrica.com+2

Sources

  1. forbesafrica.comAfrica's Data Centers: Plugged Into Progress
  2. ZAWYACentral Bank of Nigeria, NITDA renew call for local storage of payment data as January 2027 deadline nears
  3. New TelegraphCBN: Advancing Data Localisation To Ensure Financial System Stability

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