To beat the last-minute rush for the January 1, 2027, migration of payment data to local data centres, banks, fintechs, and other players in the financial sector have been advised to commence early migration.

This advice was given at the weekend by the Chief Executive Officer of Open Access Data Centres (OADC), Dr Ayotunde Coker, who further warned that delays could pose operational risks as the January deadline nears.

Speaking during a virtual media parley with journalists, Coker emphasised that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive requiring financial institutions to host payment data locally should not be met with complacency despite the six-month window.

The OADC boss stressed that financial institutions should not wait until the last minute to begin their migration planning, noting that the process involved critical considerations, including equipment lead times, system compatibility, and operational continuity.

Coker expressed confidence that Nigeria had sufficient data centre capacity to accommodate the anticipated influx of financial services data, noting that major players, including OADC, Rack Centre, Equinix, and Digital Reality, had significant capacity available, with expansion plans already underway.

The CEO dismissed concerns about capacity constraints, stating that data centres typically maintain immediate availability for clients while planning expansion trajectories based on demand.

Coker concluded with a call to action for the industry, saying: “The infrastructure is ready, the cloud players are ready, and the interconnection capability is there. There’s no reason to delay. Let’s get on with the process of figuring out what you need to do and getting it done.”