Nigeria’s shift toward digital money has been massive. In early 2007, Nigerians spent just ₦946.22 million ($695,469) using PoS card machines. By the first few months of 2025, that number skyrocketed to a staggering ₦10.51 trillion ($7.73 billion).
Nigeria’s shift toward digital money has been massive. In early 2007, Nigerians spent just ₦946.22 million ($695,469) using PoS card machines. By the first few months of 2025, that number skyrocketed to a staggering ₦10.51 trillion ($7.73 billion).
This boom did not happen by accident. For nearly 20 years, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pushed policies to cut down cash usage and build a solid digital payment network. They did this through plans called the Payment System Vision (PSV). The first plan started in 2007 to build modern payment systems. A second plan came out in 2022, focusing heavily on mobile money agents, bringing bank accounts to everyday people, and connecting different banking systems.
Thanks to these efforts, formal financial inclusion rose to 64% by 2025. The country now has over two million local banking agents, and total electronic transactions jumped over 200% to hit ₦1.2 quadrillion ($880.51 billion). Plus, more than 66 million people now have a BVN for digital identification.
Even with this success, challenges remain. About 26% of adults still have no access to banking, and only 52% actively use digital payments because many people lack the confidence or digital skills to use them safely.
To fix these gaps, the CBN launched its brand-new PSV 2028 plan on June 1. The goal is to bring 95% of adults into the financial system. Moving forward, the CBN wants Nigeria to lead African finance by connecting cross-border trade, using new tech like artificial intelligence (AI) and stablecoins, and locking down cybersecurity.
In the past, Nigeria’s financial plans were mostly focused on things at home like getting people to use less cash, opening more bank accounts, and building better local payment apps.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) notes that earlier reforms (like the eNaira, Open Banking, and older payment blueprints) successfully modernized local payments. Plus, many Nigerian fintech startups successfully took their tech to other African nations. However, actual payment connections between different African countries are still very weak.
The brand-new PSV 2028 plan wants to change that by focusing heavily on cross-border trading, continental payment networks (like PAPSS), and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The main goal is to connect Nigeria’s payment systems deeply with the rest of Africa. This will allow businesses to trade smoothly across borders without having to rely on foreign currencies like the US dollar.
To make this happen, the CBN plans to fix existing rules within West Africa and the African Union, build secure real-time payment setups, and link Nigeria’s local systems (like NIBSS and the eNaira) with continental networks. By doing this and tapping into the over $20 billion sent home by Nigerians abroad every year Nigeria can become the main financial hub for trade and money transfers in Africa.
Nigeria already has one of the most advanced digital money systems in Africa. Its instant payment network (NIBSS Instant Payments) smoothly processes billions of transfers every single year, everyday people rely heavily on financial apps, and digital payments are a normal part of daily life.
However, sending money across African borders is a completely different story. Right now, international payments on the continent are broken, incredibly expensive, and forced to rely on foreign banks outside of Africa. When businesses try to trade with neighboring countries, they get stuck dealing with multiple currency conversions, long waiting times, and massive transaction fees just to get paid.
By linking its local systems with big African trade projects like PAPSS and AfCFTA, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) wants to do more than just run Africa’s biggest digital money market it wants to lead the continent’s entire financial system.
This report explains further on how Central Bank of Nigeria plan to pursue these goals in the next three years as it will be critical. They will decide whether Nigeria can successfully turn its local banking triumphs into real power across Africa, or if PSV 2028 will just end up as another ambitious plan on paper.
