CBN DATA LOCALISATION: compliance imminent, infrastructure available — Coker, OADC CEO

By Prince Osuagwu

As the January 1, 2027 Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN deadline for financial institutions to localise payment transaction data, approaching faster than imagined, the Chief Executive Officer of Open Access Data Centre, OADC, Dr. Ayotunde Coker, has said Nigerian banks, fintechs and other payment operators no longer have any reason to delay compliance, insisting that the country’s data centre infrastructure has sufficient capacity to support the migration.

Speaking during an interactive session with ICT editors, Coker dismissed concerns that Nigeria lacks the infrastructure needed to implement the CBN’s data localisation directive, stressing that high-quality data centres across the country are adequately equipped and expanding to accommodate growing demand.
“There is no capacity problem in the high-quality data centres with expansion plans already in place,” Coker said.

“I would really advise people to just get on with the process of figuring out what needs to be done, not making excuses.”

The CBN, in a circular dated June 15, 2026, directed deposit money banks, microfinance banks, mobile money operators, switching companies, payment terminal service providers, payment solution service providers, super agents and other licensed payment operators to store and manage all payment transaction data generated within Nigeria on local servers.

Institutions have until January 1, 2027, to comply with the apex bank warning that sanctions await defaulters.

The directive has sparked concerns among financial institutions, particularly those relying on foreign cloud infrastructure, over whether Nigeria’s data centre ecosystem has enough capacity to support the transition.

However, Coker maintained that such concerns are misplaced. According to him, Nigeria’s data centre industry is undergoing rapid expansion, with more than $2 billion in projected investments by 2027.

He disclosed that OADC alone is investing $240 million in a 24-megawatt hyperscale data centre in Lekki, while other operators, including Equinix, Rack Centre and Airtel’s Nxtra, are also expanding their facilities.
He noted that Nigeria’s data centre market, estimated at 136.7 megawatts in 2025, is projected to more than double to 279.4 megawatts by 2030, recording an annual growth rate exceeding 15 percent.

Explaining available capacity, Coker said operators have immediate rack space for customers, shell infrastructure that can be quickly fitted out, and additional land already approved for future expansion.
“What you have is the land, what is already built, and what is immediately available for sale. Data centres have capacity immediately available as quickly as clients want to move in,” he said.

On the implementation timeline, Coker urged financial institutions to begin migration plans immediately rather than seek extensions.

“If the regulator has aked them to do something by January, that is in six months’ time, they should get their heads down and work out what needs to be done. If there are genuine challenges, then they should present authentic analysis to the regulator.” He added.

He also acknowledged that organisations currently hosting workloads on offshore platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure may face technical and financial challenges migrating to local infrastructure but noted that the challenges should be manageable with proper planning.

“Do you lift and shift? Do you need new equipment? Do you have equipment lead-time issues? What do you need to do to maintain service? You need to lay it all out,” he said.

Responding to concerns that locally hosted data may be less secure, Coker dismissed the argument, saying Nigeria’s top-tier data centres operate with world-class physical security standards.

“Physical security in top-end data centres meets global standards,” he said.

He, however, clarified that while data centres are responsible for physical infrastructure security, protecting applications and customer data from cyber threats remains the responsibility of banks and fintech operators.

As the January 2027 compliance deadline draws nearer, Coker insisted that the debate should no longer centre on infrastructure readiness but on execution.

“In the absence of tangible, validated reasons for delay, I think they should follow the regulator’s directive.”

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