Data Governance Maturity and Digital Infrastructure Performance in selected Nigerian Fintech Firms: The Mediating Role of Big Data Ecosystems

In Nigeria's fintech industry, digital infrastructure performance is becoming a more important factor in determining competitive positioning. However, the organisational mechanisms governing this performance are still poorly theorised and empirically understudied. This study investigates the relationship between data governance maturity and digital infrastructure performance in Nigerian fintech firms: the mediating role of big data ecosystems. The study adopts quantitative survey of 318 professionals purposively selected from five selected fintech firms licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 4 was used for the data analysis. Findings showed that DGM has statistically significant positive direct effect on Digital Infrastructure Performance DIP (β = 0.314, t = 5.072, p < 0.001). This link is somewhat mediated by big data ecosystems (indirect effect = 0.241, 95% CI [0.168, 0.319]), and the complete model explains 54.3% of the variance in DIP. The results directly affect data strategists, infrastructure officers, and financial regulators by applying the Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capabilities Theory to the Nigerian fintech environment.