NITDA DG Inuwa urges real-time supervision of Nigeria’s digital finance ecosystem
…says financial stability now depends on digital stability
The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has declared that Nigeria’s financial stability can no longer be guaranteed through traditional regulatory approaches, warning that banking has evolved into a complex digital ecosystem requiring real-time supervision, cross-sector collaboration, digital sovereignty, and enhanced operational resilience.
Speaking on “Digital Transformation, Supervision, Innovation and Operational Resilience” at the 15th Retreat of the Central Bank of Nigeria Committee of Departmental Directors, themed “From Reform to Institutionalisation: Strengthening the CBN Capacity to Deliver Sustainable Financial System Stability,” in Lagos, Inuwa said regulators must move beyond monitoring individual institutions to overseeing the entire digital ecosystem powering modern finance.
He called for a fundamental rethinking of financial sector regulation, asserting that in an era of digital banking, financial stability is impossible without digital stability.
Inuwa said the rapid evolution of banking from physical branches to mobile platforms, fintech ecosystems and embedded finance has rendered many traditional supervisory models inadequate for current realities.
“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 Director General noted that banking has progressed through multiple phases of transformation, from branch-based operations to internet banking, mobile banking and digitally embedded financial services, creating an ecosystem that now extends beyond the direct regulatory reach of financial institutions.
According to him, modern financial services increasingly depend on telecommunications infrastructure, cloud platforms, digital marketplaces, fintechs, data systems and emerging technologies, making it imperative for regulators to adopt a broader ecosystem approach
Inuwa warned that regulators can no longer rely solely on periodic returns submitted by institutions but must develop real-time visibility across the entire financial ecosystem.
“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,” he stated.
