ENHANCING DATA SECURITY AND DRIVING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGH BLOCKCHAIN ADOPTION IN NIGERIAN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Nigeria’s financial sector can achieve significant benefits through blockchain technology because it strengthens data protection and reduces fraud likelihood and introduces total transaction visibility to the financial environment. Numerous obstacles prevent this groundbreaking technology adoption because officials in charge remain indecisive about the use of blockchain and professionals in the sector fail at understanding blockchain. Additionally, there are technological hurdles and funding constraints together with regulatory complexities. The research examines blockchain technology implementation in Nigerian financial operations by reviewing its economic benefits and discussing adoption obstacles across financial networks. The research adopts qualitative documentary analysis as its methodology to study blockchain implementation in financial institutions through academic peer-reviewed studies and industrial reports with field-relevant case studies. Banking security and broad financial accessibility improve through blockchain technology based on evidence from this study yet investors need to navigate through unknown challenges since existing rules provide insufficient regulatory guidelines in blockchain fields. Both infrastructure deficiencies and low internet penetration rates in different regions as well as minimal technical proficiency of professionals slow down the integration and deployment of blockchain methods. For blockchain technology implementation to succeed there needs to be policy adjustments and improvements to digital infrastructure while also developing specific blockchain training programs to increase understanding and literacy among people. The study provides fundamental information about blockchain adoption basics in Nigeria's financial sector as well as guidelines to optimize data protection and economic sustainability.