The Central Bank of Nigeria has officially launched the Nigeria Payment System Vision (PSV) 2028, a strategy aimed at expanding financial inclusion to 95 per cent of the adult population in Nigeria’s digital payments system.
The CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, stated at the launch in Abuja on Monday that the PSV 2028, a roadmap designed to transform financial transactions, will strengthen Nigeria’s digital economy over the next three years.
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He said the roadmap will help Nigeria attain faster digital payments and money transfers across all its regions by 2028.
Mr Cardoso said the initiative is expected to bring an estimated 50 million additional Nigerians into the formal financial system by 2028.
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The CBN governor noted that the new framework builds on Nigeria’s progress in digital payments and seeks to accelerate the country’s transition towards a more inclusive, technology-driven ecosystem as it continues to lead Africa’s digital payments ecosystem.
“Today, we unveil more than a payment strategy. We unveil a vision for how Nigerians will transact, trade, save, invest, and participate in an increasingly digital economy.
“Over the past two decades, Nigeria’s payments ecosystem has evolved into one of the most dynamic and innovative in the world. From instant payments and digital adoption to fintech-led innovation, our progress has often set the pace on the continent.
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“While this progress has not always been fully reflected in global narratives, its impact on economic activities, financial inclusion, and system resilience is evident across our economy,” he said.
He said the financial roadmap will also improve payment infrastructure, reduce reliance on cash transactions, and support the country’s economic growth.
The CBN governor stressed that financial inclusion must remain central to the country’s economic future, noting that millions of Nigerians are still outside the formal banking system.
“The PSV 2028 builds on the strong foundations, it provides a strategic roadmap for the next phase of transformation and reflects an ambition to build a payment ecosystem that’s secure, inclusive, resilient, and globally competitive.
“Inclusion and not exclusion must define our future. In 2023, a very large number of Nigerian adults will have access to financial services.
“Under Vision 2028, I would like to see this reaching 95 per cent inclusion. That means 50 million more market women, farmers, and young people will have a bank account or wallet in their name, with their name and BVN protecting them,” Mr Cardoso said.
CBN said the vision will modernise the national payments infrastructure in intra-African trade. The bank added that the vision will accelerate regional commerce and enhance export competitiveness.
According to CBN, actualisation of the vision will shape Nigeria from a passive participant in global finance into an active engine for continental economic integration.
Implementation
The CBN boss emphasised that payment infrastructure has become a strategic national asset capable of improving productivity, reducing transaction costs, increasing transparency, and supporting trade and investment.
According to him, the success of the PSV 2028 initiative would depend on implementation rather than policy documentation.
“The success of PSV 2028 will not be measured by the quality of the document. It will be measured by execution.
“This vision, therefore, calls for sustained collaboration from government agencies, financial institutions, fintech companies, technical providers, development partners, academia, and users of payment systems. Its success is a shared responsibility, ” Mr Cardoso said.
Under the Payment System Vision 2028, the CBN aims to reduce cash circulating outside the banking system to below 40 per cent of total currency in circulation.
The apex bank also plans to deploy more than 10 million QR-code and tap-to-pay acceptance points across markets, transport hubs, rural communities, and commercial centres nationwide.
In addition, the CBN targets reducing fraud losses to less than 0.001 per cent of total transactions by deploying artificial intelligence and advanced identity verification systems.
Mr Cardoso disclosed that the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) currently processes millions of instant transactions daily, with most settlements completed in less than 10 seconds.
He added that the apex bank plans to further improve transaction speed, reliability, and security as part of the new vision.
Transfer fees
Speaking at the launch panel of the Nigeria Payments Vision 2028, the CEO of NIBSS, Premier Oiwoh, advocated the control of transfer charges on digital transactions, saying transaction fees and data costs discourage the use of electronic payments.
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Mr Oiwoh said excessive transfer charges discouraged users from transacting, noting that financial data and apps are supposed to be fee-free.
“And I always tell people, if you have N10,000 in your pocket and I’m going to make a transfer, I’ll pay N15, N100. That’s no longer N10,000. As a Nigerian, I’ll keep my N10,000 in my pocket.
“How do you deal with that? Also, I’m an advocate of zero transfer fees. I think financial data and apps should be zero-rated in terms of fees. I don’t want to make a payment anywhere and then discover I have no data to complete that payment. When it has to do with finance and payments, it should be zero-rated.
“It has already happened in some countries, and I think Nigeria needs to lead that. So with what we’ve built on NIBSS and the onboarding process, I think much more impact will be achieved in usage, accessibility, trust, and transparency across the payment ecosystem,” Mr Oiwoh said.
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