The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stressed the need for effective data sovereignty policies to protect the country’s economic and security interests while strengthening its digital economy.
The Director of Payments System Supervision at the CBN, Rakiya Yusuf, stated this yesterday, while delivering the keynote address at the seventh CIO & C-Suite Conference and Awards Africa in Lagos.
Speaking on the theme: “Policy, Regulation and Data Sovereignty,” Yusuf said the rapid expansion of digital payments, e-commerce, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and platform-based services had made data governance increasingly critical to Nigeria’s economic development, hence the need for stronger oversight.
She said the country needed a trusted, inclusive and resilient digital economy capable of supporting innovation, attracting investment and delivering sustainable growth.
To address these concerns, Yusuf said the CBN issued a circular on June 15, 2026, directing financial institutions and participating payment facilitators to ensure that payment transaction data generated in Nigeria were stored and managed locally, in line with applicable data protection laws and regulations.
