Nigeria Needs Digital Stability to Guarantee Financial Stability – NITDA DG

Nigeria Needs Digital Stability to Guarantee Financial Stability – NITDA DG

The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, has warned that Nigeria can no longer guarantee financial stability through traditional regulatory approaches, stressing the need for real-time supervision, digital sovereignty and stronger operational resilience.

Inuwa made the call while speaking on “Digital Transformation, Supervision, Innovation and Operational Resilience” at the 15th Retreat of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Committee of Departmental Directors in Lagos.

The retreat, themed “From Reform to Institutionalisation: Strengthening the CBN Capacity to Deliver Sustainable Financial System Stability,” brought together senior directors of the apex bank to examine emerging challenges and strategies for strengthening Nigeria’s financial system.

Inuwa said the transformation of banking from physical branches to internet and mobile banking, fintech ecosystems and embedded financial services had created a complex digital ecosystem that traditional supervisory models could no longer adequately address.

He stated that financial regulators must move beyond monitoring individual institutions and develop the capacity to oversee the wider ecosystem of telecommunications infrastructure, cloud platforms, fintech companies, digital marketplaces, data systems and emerging technologies that support modern financial services.

“To achieve financial stability, we need digital stability. Without digital stability, today we cannot be talking about financial stability in the financial sector,” he said.

The NITDA chief urged regulators to develop real-time visibility across the financial ecosystem instead of relying predominantly on periodic returns submitted by regulated institutions.

“We need to be ahead of the institutions we regulate. 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,” Inuwa stated.

He also drew a distinction between digitalisation and digital transformation, explaining that while digitalisation improves existing processes through technology, digital transformation involves creating new value propositions, business models and operating structures.

According to him, financial institutions and regulators must embrace ecosystem-driven innovation and rethink how they operate in response to rapidly changing digital realities.

On operational resilience, Inuwa said financial institutions must look beyond conventional cybersecurity frameworks to address third-party and fourth-party risks, cloud governance, data protection, artificial intelligence oversight and the sustainability of digital infrastructure.

He identified the growing dependence on external technology providers as a major emerging risk, warning that disruptions affecting cloud services, connectivity infrastructure and digital platforms could produce consequences across the entire financial ecosystem.

The NITDA DG also raised concerns over emerging cyber threats powered by artificial intelligence, noting that while AI can be deployed to strengthen cyber defence, AI systems themselves must be protected against manipulation and sophisticated attacks.

He stressed the importance of developing local digital talent and institutional capabilities to strengthen technology-driven supervision and Nigeria’s long-term financial resilience.

Kashifu further linked financial stability to digital sovereignty, arguing that Nigeria must retain meaningful control over the critical digital infrastructure supporting strategic sectors of the economy.

“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.

He said the future of regulation would require a system-wide approach that enables regulators to understand and respond to risks across technologies, platforms, infrastructure and stakeholders.

“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,” Inuwa stated.

He said such an approach would help build a resilient, secure and sustainable financial system capable of supporting Nigeria’s digital economy ambitions.

Speaking virtually in his keynote address, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, assured staff that the apex bank was in a strong position following ongoing reforms.

Cardoso said the Bank’s transformation agenda was aimed at strengthening the institution while protecting the interests and career progression of its professional workforce.

“The Bank is in a good place,” the Governor said, urging employees to remain confident in the future.

He explained that the success of reforms would ultimately be measured by their ability to become embedded in the institution’s culture, systems and processes beyond the tenure of the officials who initiated them.

Cardoso noted that the CBN had recorded progress in several strategic areas, including the completion of a bank-wide culture survey that provided staff with an opportunity to contribute to shaping the institution’s future.

He described organisational culture as the foundation of sustainable reform and pledged that staff feedback would continue to inform meaningful institutional action.

The Governor also commended CBN employees following the Bank’s recent international recognition, saying the achievement reflected the dedication, professionalism and commitment of staff across departments and locations.

He urged directors to empower their teams, encourage constructive engagement and strengthen collaboration across departments.

“Reform and institutionalisation are not a threat to the career officer; they are the protection of the career officer,” Cardoso stated.

The Chairman of the CBN Committee of Departmental Directors, Jimoh Musa Itoba, charged directors to take greater responsibility for driving financial stability and supporting Nigeria’s economic growth.

Describing directors as the Bank’s “major anchors,” Itoba said they were custodians of its processes, culture and institutional memory.

He said the retreat offered an opportunity for participants to critically assess the CBN’s contribution to national economic development and Nigeria’s aspiration of becoming a one-trillion-dollar economy.

“The directors are the major anchors of the Bank,” he said, stressing that their actions, leadership and decisions significantly influence institutional culture and public confidence.

Itoba urged participants to challenge existing narratives and focus on practical solutions that management could implement to strengthen financial system stability and public trust.

He called for greater commitment, engagement and collaboration among directors and other officials of the Bank.

Earlier, the Secretary of the Committee of Departmental Directors, Rashida Monguno, urged CBN directors to embrace innovation, strategic thinking and stronger collaboration as the institution responds to emerging challenges.

Monguno said the rapidly changing operating environment required continuous performance assessment and bold approaches to improving the Bank’s effectiveness, efficiency and service delivery.

She described the retreat’s theme as timely, noting that the CBN must continually assess its progress, identify institutional gaps and develop innovative solutions to emerging challenges.

She encouraged participants to leverage their collective expertise and experience to generate fresh ideas, share best practices and develop a clear path for the Bank’s future.

“The success of our initiatives will depend on our willingness to collaborate, think strategically and remain focused on achieving measurable outcomes,” she said.

Monguno expressed confidence that the retreat would produce recommendations capable of strengthening institutional performance and improving coordination across departments.

She also urged participants to approach the engagement with teamwork, commitment to excellence and dedication to national development, stressing that a stronger and more responsive CBN would depend on collective responsibility and institutional collaboration.