The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other financial regulators to strengthen digital oversight across the financial ecosystem, warning that the stability of Nigeria’s financial system increasingly depends on the resilience and sovereignty of the digital infrastructure supporting it.
NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa, gave the warning at the 15th Retreat of the CBN Committee of Departmental Directors in Lagos, where he called for a shift from traditional institution-based supervision to a broader approach that captures the entire digital ecosystem underpinning modern financial services.
Inuwa said regulators could no longer rely primarily on periodic returns from individual financial institutions to identify emerging risks, stressing the need for real-time, end-to-end visibility across the financial technology infrastructure.
According to him, the rapid growth of electronic payments, fintech services and digital banking has significantly expanded the financial ecosystem beyond the direct reach of conventional supervisory models.
He noted that electronic payments in Nigeria reached approximately N1.07 quadrillion in 2024, underscoring the scale and complexity of the country’s increasingly digital financial system.
“Financial stability and digital stability are now inseparable. Without digital stability, today we cannot be talking about financial stability in the financial sector,” Inuwa said.
He urged the CBN and other regulators to broaden their supervisory focus to include telecommunications networks, cloud service providers, fintech companies, data systems and other critical digital infrastructure that financial institutions depend on to deliver services.
Inuwa said regulators needed to move from a reactive approach, in which risks are identified after institutions submit periodic reports, to a proactive model that enables authorities to monitor developments across the ecosystem in real time.
“We cannot wait for regulated institutions to submit returns before we analyse and understand what is happening. We need end-to-end visibility of the ecosystem,” he said.
The NITDA chief also linked the security and stability of Nigeria’s financial system to the country’s ability to exercise greater control over critical digital infrastructure.
He argued that digital sovereignty should become an important component of financial-sector stability, particularly as financial services become increasingly dependent on technology, data, cloud infrastructure and interconnected digital networks.
“Financial stability now depends on resilient technology and Nigeria’s capacity for digital self-determination. If we do not build, control and maintain sovereignty over critical digital infrastructure, how can we guarantee the stability and integrity of our financial system?” he asked.
Inuwa said the future of financial supervision should go beyond simply deploying digital tools to automate existing regulatory processes, stressing that regulators must fundamentally transform how they identify, analyse and respond to risks.
“The future of supervision is not merely to digitise regulation, but to digitally transform how regulators sense, understand and respond to risks across the ecosystem,” he said.
His comments come as Nigeria’s financial sector continues to undergo rapid digital transformation, with electronic payments, mobile financial services, fintech platforms and other technology-driven channels becoming increasingly important to economic activity.
The growing interdependence between financial institutions and technology providers, however, also creates new areas of systemic risk, including cyber threats, technology failures, data vulnerabilities and disruptions to critical digital infrastructure.
Inuwa therefore called for closer collaboration among financial regulators, technology agencies and other stakeholders to ensure that the digital infrastructure supporting the financial system remains secure, resilient and capable of withstanding emerging threats.
Meanwhile, CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso, who addressed participants virtually, said the apex bank was in a strong position following the reforms being implemented across the institution.
Cardoso urged CBN staff to embrace institutionalisation and reform, describing them as mechanisms for strengthening the institution and protecting the careers of professional staff.
“The Bank is in a good place. Our staff have nothing to fear. Reform and institutionalisation are not a threat to the career officer; they are the protection of the career officer,” he said.
The governor’s remarks come amid the CBN’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its institutional framework, improve governance and enhance the effectiveness of its monetary and financial-sector functions.
Chairman of the CBN Committee of Departmental Directors, Jimoh Musa Itoba, described the retreat as more than an annual engagement, saying it provided an opportunity for directors to take greater ownership of the bank’s financial stability responsibilities and Nigeria’s broader economic development objectives.
Itoba described directors as key anchors of the institution and challenged them to critically examine existing practices while developing practical solutions capable of supporting management decisions.
“The directors are the major anchors of the Bank,” he said.
He urged participants to remain actively engaged throughout the retreat and ensure that discussions translated into actionable recommendations.
“Let us be committed, let us get engaged, and make sure that at the end of this retreat, we are not only questioning what we do today but also providing solutions that management can implement,” Itoba added.
The call by NITDA reinforces the growing recognition that financial-sector regulation in Nigeria must evolve alongside technological changes, with digital resilience, data security, infrastructure sovereignty and real-time monitoring becoming increasingly important to safeguarding financial stability.
(The Whistler)