Efficient Payment System Key to Lifting Nigerians from Poverty – CBN Governor

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, has declared that an efficient payment system remains one of the fastest pathways to lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

Speaking on Monday at the launch of the Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028 in Abuja, Cardoso said the country’s payment infrastructure must go beyond simply facilitating transactions to become a catalyst for economic growth, job creation, financial inclusion, and poverty reduction.

He stressed that an efficient payments system should not be taken lightly, as it holds the power to transform the lives of the poor.

The event brought together regulators, banks, fintech operators, development partners, and other financial sector stakeholders. Cardoso explained that the Payments System Vision 2028 builds on Nigeria’s progress in digital payments and provides a roadmap for developing a payment ecosystem that is secure, resilient, inclusive, and globally competitive.

He noted that over the past two decades, Nigeria’s payments ecosystem had evolved into one of the most dynamic and innovative in the world, driven by instant payments, digital adoption, and fintech innovation. He described the new vision as more than just a payment strategy, calling it a blueprint for how Nigerians will transact, trade, save, invest, and participate in an increasingly digital economy.

Cardoso emphasised that payment systems have become critical infrastructure for economic growth by reducing the cost of doing business, improving productivity, strengthening transparency, supporting trade, and broadening economic participation. He described payment infrastructure as a strategic national asset.

The initiative is designed to support broader economic reforms pursued by the apex bank since 2023 by strengthening the efficiency, resilience, and international connectivity of Nigeria’s payments ecosystem. This, in turn, is expected to facilitate trade and remittance flows, deepen investor confidence, and improve the country’s balance of payments position over time.

The CBN governor stated that the vision is anchored on the belief that a modern payments system is indispensable to economic growth, financial inclusion, innovation, and national competitiveness. He added that the framework seeks to ensure every Nigerian participates meaningfully in the digital economy while positioning the country to benefit from opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area and the expansion of digital commerce.

Efficient and interoperable payment systems, he argued, would enable entrepreneurs, traders, and small business owners across the country to access new markets, receive payments faster, and participate more actively in regional and global commerce.

Cardoso challenged stakeholders to focus on measurable outcomes rather than policy documents alone, stressing that success would be determined by implementation. He linked the initiative to broader economic objectives, including higher output and poverty reduction, noting that the journey is to impact the lives of the poor and lift people out of poverty.

He disclosed that the CBN is targeting 95 per cent financial inclusion by 2028, which could bring about 50 million additional market women, farmers, and young people into the formal financial system. He also outlined plans to reduce cash usage in the economy, expand digital payment acceptance through QR codes and tap-to-phone solutions, and strengthen trust in electronic transactions.

The CBN aims to reduce cash outside the banking system to less than 40 per cent of money in circulation while promoting digital payments across markets, transport hubs, and rural communities. The bank is also targeting fraud losses of less than 0.001 per cent of total transactions by 2028 through stronger identity verification, artificial intelligence-driven fraud detection, and deeper integration of the Bank Verification Number system.

Cardoso added that open banking reforms had already made more than 100 licensed application programming interfaces available, creating opportunities for innovation and supporting the emergence of new fintech companies.

Also speaking, the Deputy Governor of the Economic Policy Directorate of the CBN, Muhammad Abdullahi, said the success of Nigeria’s economic growth would increasingly depend on the seamless and secure movement of money across households, businesses, governments, and borders. He described the Payments System Vision 2028 as a strategic framework to shape the future of payments and commerce in Nigeria, built around five pillars: payment infrastructure, financial inclusion, innovation, cross-border payments, and regulation and cybersecurity.

The Director of Payments System Policy at the CBN, Musa Jimoh, recalled that Nigeria’s payments transformation began in 2007 with the Payment System Vision 2020, which modernised a largely cash-based economy.

He noted that high banking costs, poor proximity to financial services, and stringent account-opening requirements were major barriers to inclusion at the time. Through policies such as the cashless initiative and agent banking framework, the CBN now has over two million agents spread across the country, deepening financial access while creating jobs.

The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Emomotimi Agama, stressed the importance of collaboration among regulators, while the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Aminu Maida, backed the vision as a critical step towards achieving the Federal Government’s goal of building a $1 trillion economy.