Cyril Mbah, Abuja
The Foundation for Peace Professionals (PeacePro) has backed the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive mandating financial institutions and payment service providers to store and manage payment transaction data generated in Nigeria within the country.
The group described the policy,in a statement, as a critical step towards strengthening Nigeria’s digital sovereignty and economic security.
The CBN circular, issued on June 15, 2026, set January 1, 2027, as the deadline for full compliance, a timeline the apex bank reaffirmed on October 9 as unchanged.
Reacting to the policy, PeacePro Executive Director, Comrade Abdulrazaq Hamzat, said Nigeria must move beyond being a major consumer of foreign digital services to building the infrastructure and expertise needed to control and benefit from its digital economy.
“A country that generates critical financial data but depends on infrastructure outside its borders to store and manage the data must ask serious questions about its digital sovereignty.
“Nigeria cannot afford to remain merely a market for other countries’ technology while its own digital economy continues to expand,” Hamzat said.
He said the policy could unlock investment in Nigerian data centres, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, software development and specialised technical services, if implementation is backed by deliberate measures to develop local capacity.
Hamzat however warned that keeping data physically within Nigeria would not guarantee digital sovereignty if critical infrastructure, intellectual property, technical expertise and strategic decision-making remain dominated by foreign providers.
“Data localisation must be more than a change of address for servers. It must become part of a national strategy to build Nigerian capacity, develop our technology workforce, strengthen local enterprises and retain more economic value within the country,” he said.
PeacePro urged the Federal Government and regulators to ensure Nigerian-owned technology companies and qualified professionals are given a fair opportunity to participate in the emerging market, rather than allowing the transition to become an exclusive preserve of a few established foreign providers.
The group acknowledged concerns raised by banks and payment companies that migrating complex systems within the timeframe could pose operational and cybersecurity risks.
Hamzat said such concerns should be addressed through constructive engagement and clear technical standards, without abandoning the strategic objective of keeping Nigerian payment transaction data under domestic control.
He said Nigeria’s digital sovereignty should be measured not only by where data is stored, but by its ability to secure that data, understand the systems managing it, develop domestic alternatives and ensure Nigerians benefit from the economic value created.
“Nigeria must own its digital future not necessarily by excluding foreign technology, but by ensuring that foreign participation strengthens rather than replaces our domestic capacity,” Hamzat added.
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