The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, says it will be launching a new payment systems vision that will outline where the entire ecosystem is expected to be heading in the next three years.
The vision was co-created with the financial technology players, the mobile money operators, payment service providers across the board.
This was announced by the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy Directorate at the CBN, Muhammad Abdullahi, after the inaugural meeting of the Payment Service Providers Committee.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso inaugurated the first meeting of the Payment Service Providers Committee, to reinforce policy coordination, knowledge sharing, and also ensure collective problem-solving by the industry and by the central bank.
The Committee
The committee is being chaired by the CBN Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Muhammad Abdullahi and co-chaired by the Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability Directorate, Philip Ikeazor.
Other members of the committee include stakeholders from all the key payment service providers that are licensed to operate in Nigeria as well as a number of regulators, the Nigerian Communications Commission , Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to Abdullahi, the committee is expected to convene on a quarterly basis to interface with players in the industry, to ensure that they collectively solve some of the challenges that are facing the industry.
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“The committee is to put Nigeria on the best footing forward in terms of payment system space. As we already know, Nigeria is a world leader in payment service provision.
“The kind of technology and fintechs deployed in Nigeria are far ahead of regional and continental peers. And what we want to ensure over the next five to 10 years is that we continue to maintain this leadership and be able to do much more for the Nigerian economy,” he said.
He stated that setting up the committee had become relevant with the remarkable growth trajectory seen in the digital payment landscape in Nigeria.
“In 2024 alone, the system processed over 11.2 billion electronic transactions, amounting to over N1.07 quadrillion. This is the first time that digital payments crossed the quadrillion naira threshold, representing significant growth.
“The momentum has continued. In 2025, we’ve seen significant growth, and of course, in the first few months of 2026 as well. This is an ecosystem that is significantly growing, that has significant implications for growth in Nigeria, for inclusive growth, for trade, and other significant positives for our country, he said.
The Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability Directorate, and co-chair of the committee, Philip Ikeazor, explained that the inaugural meeting, featured discussions such as preliminary issues around how participation is going to be, what the top-line issues are, and some of the committees that would be set up eventually.
He said, “What we intend to do is to be able to solve this in a much faster way. So in the past, companies would have to wait a significant amount of time to interface or lay their concerns to the central bank, and the central bank would have to do supervisory visits—on-site, off-site—to be able to carry out its responsibilities.
“But today, now, we have a platform that brings us all together, that has committees that are working towards specific mandates that can advance the payment systems space, you know, payment service provider space. So what we really have now is that a major bottleneck has been removed, which is the bottleneck of coordination, collaboration, and joint systems thinking”.
On her part, the Chief Executive Officer of Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Advancement (EFInA), Foyinsolami Akinjayeju said that the inaugural meeting of the Payment Services Providers Committee was to ensure that innovation was not stifled.
She said, “The Payment Services Providers Committee will more importantly, allow for inclusive and sustainable growth through access, expansion, strengthening of trust to ensure that no segments of our economy is left behind”.
Also, the Managing Director and Chief Executive, Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Premier Oiwoh, lauded the initiative describing it as historic and a win for all Nigerians.
For the Chairman, Association of Licensed Mobile Payment Operators, Jay Alabraba, the initiative is a good one which will help sustain the nation’s growth through active participation of industry stakeholders.