CBN data localisation directive will boost investment in digital infrastructure — GFA Co-Founder

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By Babajide Komolafe

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The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, data localisation directive will create measurable, long-term demand for local data centres, cloud services and other sovereign digital infrastructure, GFA Technologies Group has said.

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Co-founder of GFA Technologies Group, Adebola Omololu, stated this while assessing the investment opportunities arising from the directive, describing it as a catalyst for the next phase of Nigeria’s digital infrastructure development.

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The CBN recently directed banks, fintechs, mobile money operators and other payment service providers to ensure that payment transaction data generated in Nigeria is stored and managed locally, with full compliance expected by January 1, 2027.

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Omololu said: “The CBN Data Localisation Directive should therefore be viewed not simply as a compliance requirement, but as a catalyst for Nigeria’s next phase of digital infrastructure development.

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“For the first time, a regulatory directive has the potential to create measurable, long-term demand for sovereign digital infrastructure in Nigeria.”

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He noted that requiring sensitive financial data to remain within Nigeria would create sustained demand for local data centres, sovereign cloud services, disaster recovery facilities and cybersecurity infrastructure.

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According to him, the directive strengthens the investment case for GFA’s planned 200-megawatt Abeokuta Technology Zone, ATZ, Data Centre & Digital Infrastructure Campus, a nine-year phased, carrier-neutral facility.

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He said the campus is being developed to support data centre providers, sovereign cloud services, managed infrastructure, disaster recovery, artificial intelligence workloads, enterprise colocation and future hyperscale expansion.

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Omololu said Nigeria’s rapidly expanding electronic payments ecosystem further reinforces the need for increased investment in domestic digital infrastructure.

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Citing actual and extrapolated CBN data, he said electronic payment transactions increased from 16.3 billion in 2021 to 22.1 billion in 2022 and 38.7 billion in 2023.

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He estimated transactions at 44.8 billion in 2024 and projected 51.9 billion transactions for 2025 and 60.1 billion in 2026.

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