NITDA Logo
Only 59 per cent of surveyed financial institutions in Nigeria are expected to meet the January 1, 2027 deadline to store critical financial data locally, according to a joint regulatory survey presented by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
The findings were unveiled on Wednesday in Lagos during the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)–NITDA Executive Regulatory Dialogue.
The dialogue brought together regulators, financial leaders, and technology providers to address national data sovereignty and local infrastructure challenges.
Dr. Muhammad Lawal, Special Assistant on Policy to the Director-General of NITDA, presented the survey, which evaluated industry readiness under the Nigerian Sovereign Cloud Initiative.
Conducted between October 13 and October 27, 2026, the survey gathered self-reported, anonymised data from 47 financial institutions and 42 digital infrastructure providers.
Out of 44 financial institutions responding directly to the readiness question, 26 institutions (59%) have completed or expect to complete migration before the 2027 deadline.
15 institutions reported that completion was unlikely or very unlikely while institutions were unable to assess their timeline.
Crucially, 22 of the 44 institutions have not yet begun implementation, citing delayed budgeting, pending contract negotiations, and migration complexities.
Lawal highlighted a clear divide between infrastructure availability and execution, noting that 79 per cent of surveyed local digital infrastructure providers reported having the physical capacity to host the financial sector’s workloads.
“The challenge extends beyond infrastructure availability to actual deployment, contracting, and operational migration,” Lawal noted.
Addressing the gathering, NITDA Director-General Mr. Kashifu Inuwa emphasized that the Nigerian Sovereign Cloud Initiative directly aligns with the Federal Government’s Nigeria First policy, which prioritises national digital self-determination without isolating the country from global technological progress.
Inuwa disclosed that Nigerian institutions currently spend over $850 million annually on foreign cloud services.
Developing domestic cloud capacity, he argued, will retain significant economic value, create local technical jobs, and protect the financial ecosystem from external operational disruptions.
He cited the major subsea fiber-optic cable outages of 2024 as a stark reminder of the risks associated with relying on offshore digital infrastructure for critical national services.
In her keynote address, Dr. Rakiya Yusuf, Deputy Governor for Financial System Stability at the CBN, reaffirmed that all financial institutions must manage and store critical payment transaction data within Nigeria in accordance with regulatory requirements.
She explained that while the 2027 deadline aims to enhance regulatory oversight, system resilience, and data protection, physical localization alone is insufficient to guarantee security.
“Data localisation alone will not guarantee security. There is a critical need for robust cybersecurity, business continuity, disaster recovery, and comprehensive risk-management arrangements.” Yusuf said.
Yusuf reminded institutions that they remain fully accountable for all third-party risks associated with cloud and vendor partnerships, calling for structured cross-sector collaboration between the CBN, NITDA, and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
To smooth the transition before the 2027 cutoff, financial institutions at the dialogue called for:
Clearer regulatory guidelines and harmonisation across CBN, NITDA, and NDPC.
Phased or risk-based implementation milestones rather than a single deadline.
A defined framework for granting exceptions and formal approvals.
Regulators and industry stakeholders agreed to continue collaborative planning to resolve migration bottlenecks without compromising system stability or slowing down financial innovation. (NAN)
