The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive requiring payment transaction data generated within the country to be stored locally is expected to accelerate investment in Nigeria’s digital infrastructure and create new opportunities for domestic technology companies, according to GFA Technologies Group.
Co-founder of GFA Technologies Group, Adebola Omololu, said the policy should be viewed as more than a regulatory requirement, describing it as a catalyst for the country’s next phase of digital infrastructure development.
The CBN recently directed banks, fintech companies, mobile money operators and other payment service providers to ensure that payment transaction data generated in Nigeria is stored and managed locally in line with applicable data protection regulations.
The directive requires full compliance by January 1, 2027.
According to Omololu, the policy will create sustained demand for local data centres, cloud services and other digital infrastructure by ensuring that sensitive financial data remains within Nigeria.
He said the impact of the directive extends beyond banks and fintech companies to policymakers, investors, development finance institutions, telecommunications companies, cloud service providers and data centre operators.
Omololu noted that the directive could strengthen Nigeria’s digital sovereignty by encouraging long-term investment in domestic technology infrastructure.
He said GFA Technologies has already aligned its strategy with this vision through plans to develop the 200MW Abeokuta Technology Zone Data Centre and Digital Infrastructure Campus.
According to him, the nine-year phased project will support sovereign cloud services, managed infrastructure, disaster recovery, enterprise colocation, artificial intelligence workloads and future hyperscale expansion.
Omololu explained that the company’s commercial strategy is focused on managed infrastructure services, sovereign cloud enablement, disaster recovery and compliance hosting for regulated financial institutions and payment service providers.
He added that combining infrastructure development with long-term demand generation offers a more sustainable approach to accelerating Africa’s digital transformation.
Citing CBN data, Omololu said Nigeria’s electronic payment transactions increased from 16.3 billion in 2021 to 38.7 billion in 2023, with volumes projected to exceed 60 billion transactions by 2026.
He noted that the growth in electronic payments will require increased investment in payment switches, databases, cybersecurity platforms, backup systems, disaster recovery facilities and analytics platforms.
According to him, resilient domestic infrastructure will become increasingly important as transaction volumes continue to rise.
Omololu also said future investments in digital infrastructure would support emerging technologies and services, including artificial intelligence, digital healthcare, e-government platforms, education technology and enterprise cloud adoption.
He maintained that the infrastructure built to support today’s payment ecosystem would provide the foundation for Nigeria’s next generation of digital innovation.
