The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under the leadership of Governor Olayemi Cardoso, has extended its Payment System Vision (PSV) roadmap to 2028, reaffirming its commitment to modernising the country’s payments infrastructure and strengthening cybersecurity across the financial system.
The move signals a renewed push to deepen contactless payments, enhance agent-banking operations, and improve integration among switching companies, with the aim of delivering a more seamless, secure, and inclusive payments market.
Nigeria’s digital-finance transformation continues to gather pace, driven by the CBN’s twin priorities of encouraging innovation while safeguarding stability within the payments ecosystem.
Recent data show notable progress in the expansion of e-payment infrastructure and service delivery. More than 12 million contactless payment cards are now in circulation nationwide, reflecting growing consumer acceptance of cashless transactions.
In addition, the CBN’s regulatory sandbox has expanded to include over 40 fintech innovators, providing a controlled environment for testing new digital-finance solutions while ensuring regulatory oversight and consumer protection.
Under the revised agent-banking guidelines, the apex bank has tightened anti-money-laundering (AML) controls, including the geo-fencing of high-risk areas. The guidelines are also designed to strengthen consumer protection at the last mile, particularly in underserved and rural communities.
At the same time, improved integration across switching companies has brought Nigeria closer to achieving seamless domestic interoperability, reducing friction in payments and enhancing system efficiency.
Governor Cardoso recently disclosed that, supported by these reforms, Nigeria now ranks among Africa’s most advanced digital payments markets. He noted that the country hosts a vibrant fintech ecosystem that has produced eight of Africa’s nine unicorns.
According to him, by mid-2025, leading fintech applications had surpassed 10 million downloads each, with one exceeding 50 million downloads, underscoring deep and widespread consumer adoption of digital financial services.
The CBN said the extended roadmap underscores its long-term vision to build a resilient, innovative, and globally competitive payments system that supports economic growth and financial inclusion.
