Nigeria’s push to make banks and fintech companies host payment data locally could help transform the country into a major African data and computing hub, according to Open Access Data Centres (OADC) CEO Ayotunde Coker.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed financial institutions and payment operators to store payment transaction data generated in Nigeria within the country, with full compliance required from January 1, 2027.
Coker said the policy is already generating increased interest in local data-centre capacity, particularly from fintechs and core banking platforms.
He said the resulting investment could expand data-centre capacity, create jobs and drive demand for local cloud services.
“We have seen a step change in the interest in taking more colocation capacity or using more cloud services,” Coker told Nairametrics.
Capacity expansion
OADC says it is expanding its infrastructure to meet growing demand.
Coker said the company is currently building out capacity towards 2 megawatts, while its Lekki facility is planned in four stages of 6MW each, giving a potential 24MW capacity.
He said the facility is also being designed with artificial intelligence workloads in mind, which could require capacity of about 40MW.
The company plans to strengthen its power supply through utility connections and gas infrastructure, with plans for up to 50MW of on-site gas-powered generation.
Coker said Nigeria’s gas resources, subsea connectivity and expanding fibre infrastructure could give the country an advantage in attracting large-scale computing operations.
Beyond Lagos
While Lagos remains the country’s dominant data-centre cluster because of its subsea cable connections and infrastructure, Coker said expansion into other cities would become increasingly important.
He identified Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan among locations where data infrastructure could expand as connectivity improves.
The development of Project BRIDGE, which is expected to expand fibre infrastructure, could further improve access to computing services outside Lagos.
Coker said the localisation policy could eventually move Nigeria beyond simply hosting domestic data to exporting computing services to other African markets.
For banks facing the 2027 deadline, he advised institutions to begin their migration planning early, assess available local capacity and build resilient arrangements involving primary, disaster-recovery and cloud providers.
The CBN’s localisation directive is part of broader efforts to keep payment data within Nigeria and strengthen oversight of the country’s rapidly expanding digital payments ecosystem.
