ALTON backs Central Bank of Nigeria on local data hosting rule for banks, fintechs

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The Association of Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the official industry body and advocacy group for major telecommunications providers in Nigeria, has backed the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive requiring banks and fintechs to host payment transaction data locally.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON, said this in an interview with newsmen in Lagos.

His position follows a recent CBN directive mandating that banks, fintechs, and other payment service providers store payment transaction data generated in Nigeria on local servers from January 1, 2027.

The directive forms part of measures aimed at strengthening oversight of the country’s rapidly growing digital payments ecosystem.

Adebayo said data sovereignty required countries to take responsibility for their entire data value chain.

According to him, this covers data collection, management, storage, and integrity assurance.

“We cannot continue to outsource that to other jurisdictions,” he said.

“The more we host our data locally, the better for us,” he said.

Adebayo said local hosting would enable Nigeria to manage data end-to-end and guarantee the integrity of critical information.

He noted that hosting payment data outside the country increased communication requirements, latency, and retrieval costs.

“For every transaction involving data hosted outside our shores, communication has to take place from your location to the host and back.

“It increases latency and also increases the cost of data retrieval,” he said.