James Emejo writes that the launch of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Payments System Vision 2028 marks more than the unveiling of another policy framework
For years, Nigeria’s payments ecosystem has been celebrated as one of Africa’s most innovative, producing real-time payments infrastructure, fostering fintech growth and driving the continent’s digital finance revolution. Yet, despite these achievements, millions of Nigerians remained outside the formal financial system, electronic fraud continued to threaten trust, and the country’s innovations remain largely underappreciated globally.
Against this backdrop, PSV 2028 emerges as a bold national blueprint designed to push financial inclusion to 95 per cent, bring an additional 15 million Nigerians into the formal financial system, deepen payment penetration, strengthen trust and security, and position Nigeria as both a continental and global payments powerhouse.
However, beyond the lofty targets and policy declarations, discussions during the launch revealed that the true challenge lies not in technology itself, but in affordability, accessibility, execution, collaboration and trust. The accompanying panel session brought together regulators, infrastructure providers, fintech leaders and inclusion advocates whose interventions collectively exposed both the promise and complexity of achieving the vision.
Beyond Policy: Building Nigeria’s ‘Invisible Roads’
At the heart of PSV 2028 is the recognition that modern payment systems have become critical economic infrastructure.
Speaking at the launch, CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, framed the vision as a blueprint for how Nigerians will transact, save, trade and participate in the digital economy over the next several years. He repeatedly returned to the idea of payment systems as “invisible roads” that move money, arguing that just as physical infrastructure drives commerce, digital payment infrastructure now underpins productivity, trade, investment and economic growth.
For Cardoso, PSV 2028 is fundamentally about outcomes. The ambition is to achieve near-universal financial inclusion, drastically reduce fraud losses, accelerate transaction speeds and nurture globally competitive fintech companies capable of exporting innovation from Nigeria to the world.
His emphasis on execution was unmistakable. Nigeria’s history is littered with well-crafted policy documents that failed to deliver transformational outcomes because implementation faltered. PSV 2028 seeks to avoid that fate by making measurable impact the benchmark of success.
The central bank governor’s vision connects payment infrastructure directly to poverty reduction. By expanding access to financial services and reducing reliance on cash, more Nigerians can participate meaningfully in economic activities, access credit, save securely and engage in formal commerce.
According to Cardoso, the vision represented a sweeping reform targeting 95 per cent financial inclusion, and “faster-than-a-blink” digital transactions, adding that the new framework aimed at drastic reduction in electronic fraud losses, and the emergence of globally competitive Nigerian fintech unicorns.
Cardoso stressed that PSV 2028 is designed to position Nigeria as a global fintech hub, with explicit ambition to produce internationally competitive fintech unicorns.
He noted that open banking reforms have unlocked over 100 Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), creating opportunities for innovation, new products and financial services expansion.
According to him, Nigerian innovators should be able to build global fintech solutions from Lagos, Abuja and Kano, using domestic data and infrastructure.
He said the country must transition from a fintech adoption market to a fintech production and export economy.
Importantly, Cardoso urged Nigerians to actively project its fintech achievements globally, warning that failure to tell its own story risks allowing external narratives to define its progress albeit in away not comfortable for the country.
“If we do not tell the story, others will tell it for us,” he said.
Cardoso said,” The central bank has provided a platform—but in actual fact, it is owned by everyone. As was said earlier—and I fully endorse it—we must work together to ensure execution.
“We must also measure performance. It is fine to have well-crafted words, but if we do not measure outcomes, we will lose track.
“We must keep in mind that there is a broader roadmap for outputs. As the government builds roads, schools, and hospitals, we here must also build the invisible roads that move money.” He said, “And that is why Nigeria’s payments system vision 2028 is critical to national prosperity. Let us keep that in mind. The journey is still ongoing. That is part of it—and a major part of it. The journey is to lift people out of poverty, and to have an impact on GDP.
“Today’s payment systems process millions of transactions every day, and the majority are completed in less than 10 seconds.
“By 2028, our target is simple: every Nigerian—from Abuja to Brass—will be able to send and receive money faster than they can blink. Inclusion, not exclusion.”
The apex bank boss said, “In 2023, a large number of Nigerian adults had access to financial services. Under Vision 2028, I would like to see this reach 95 per cent inclusion—meaning 15 million more market women, farmers, and young people will gain access to financial services.”
The Structural Shift in Moving Value
CBN Deputy Governor for Economic Policy, Dr. Muhammad Sani Abdullahi, elevated the conversation beyond banking and fintech.
According to him, PSV 2028 represents a structural shift in how value moves across the Nigerian economy. The framework is anchored on five interconnected pillars — infrastructure, inclusion, innovation, cross-border payments and system integrity.
The logic is straightforward: infrastructure enables inclusion; inclusion drives adoption; adoption fuels innovation; and innovation stimulates growth.
Importantly, Abdullahi linked the vision to Nigeria’s continental ambitions under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), positioning the country as a regional payments hub capable of facilitating trade and investment flows across Africa.
This broader economic framing signals a significant departure from earlier payment reforms that focused primarily on domestic transactions. PSV 2028 now seeks to make payments a strategic instrument of economic competitiveness.
Financial Inclusion: The Last Mile Challenge
While the vision projects ambitious inclusion targets, participants acknowledged that reaching the remaining excluded Nigerians may prove more difficult than earlier phases of financial inclusion.
CBN Director of Payments System Policy Department, Jimoh Itopa Musa, reflected on the country’s progress through the cashless policy and agency banking initiatives. With roughly two million banking agents spread across the country, access barriers have been reduced considerably.
Yet access alone is no longer enough.
He said the countrys financial inclusion journey was shaped by efforts to address three key barriers including access, complexity and trust.
Musa noted that Nigeria now has about two million banking agents nationwide, describing them as small business owners who have expanded access to financial services in underserved communities.
He added that these reforms significantly reduced reliance on cash, lowered transaction costs, and expanded participation in the formal economy.
He stressed that PSV 2028 represented the next phase of reform, focused on efficiency, security, innovation and deeper financial penetration, noting that trust remained central to the system, warning that without it, digital adoption would remain constrained despite infrastructure expansion.
Managing Director of Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities (SANEF), Uche Uzoebo, argued that the conversation must move beyond simply circulating money within the existing financial system.
Her intervention exposed a critical reality: many of the underbanked and financially excluded are not absent because they reject financial services. Rather, they are often priced out of participation.
According to her, transaction charges, device costs and limited access to affordable funding continued to discourage many low-income Nigerians from embracing digital finance.
For a market woman transferring N5,000, even modest transaction fees can become a deterrent. The result is predictable: cash remains preferable.
Her perspective highlighted perhaps the most important question facing PSV 2028 — whether digital finance can become genuinely affordable for the people it seeks to include.
Technology Is Only 20 Per Cent
One of the most thought-provoking interventions came from Managing Director of Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Premier Oiwoh.
Despite presiding over one of Africa’s most sophisticated payment infrastructures, Oiwoh argued that technology accounts for only about 20 per cent of the vision’s success.
The remaining 80 per cent, he suggested, lies in execution, collaboration, education and behavioural change.
His comments underscored a growing consensus among industry leaders that infrastructure alone cannot drive adoption. Financial literacy, trust-building and widespread accessibility must accompany technological innovation.
Oiwoh’s announcement that controlled pilot transactions have commenced on the National Payment Stack further signalled Nigeria’s determination to build next-generation infrastructure.
Yet he also warned that inclusion will remain elusive unless access devices become more affordable. He advocated local smartphone manufacturing, wider device distribution and eventual migration away from feature phones.
In his view, digital inclusion ultimately requires digital tools in the hands of ordinary Nigerians.
The Cost Debate: Inclusion versus Sustainability
One of the panel’s most engaging themes centred on the question of affordability.
Several participants argued for reducing or even eliminating transaction charges for digital payments.
Oiwoh proposed that financial applications should be zero-rated for data consumption, enabling users to transact without worrying about internet costs.
Uzoebo similarly called for lower transaction charges and cheaper devices, particularly for low-income users whose financial participation is most sensitive to cost.
However, the discussion also exposed a tension between social inclusion and commercial sustainability.
Nigerian entrepreneur and software engineer, Oluwatosin Eniolorunda, acknowledged the importance of affordability but cautioned that payment providers must remain economically viable.
He argued that Nigeria already operates one of the world’s cheapest payment systems and that operators have had to become increasingly innovative to sustain their businesses.
Similarly, Remita Managing Director, Deremi Atanda, observed that while payment services can be viewed as developmental infrastructure, commercial realities cannot be ignored.
Somebody, he noted, must ultimately bear the cost.
The debate reflects a broader policy challenge facing regulators globally: balancing affordability for users with sustainability for service providers.
Measuring Success Beyond Inclusion Numbers
A recurring theme throughout the event was the importance of metrics.
While the headline target remains 95 per cent financial inclusion, tne panelists argued that inclusion alone cannot fully capture the success of PSV 2028.
Eniolorunda advocated a more comprehensive scorecard encompassing customer experience, trust, transaction reliability, complaint volumes, institutional resilience and public perception.
His argument was simple: access means little if users continually experience failed transactions, unresolved disputes or concerns about security.
Atanda expanded the conversation by proposing a quarterly PSV 2028 dashboard that would transparently track progress and hold stakeholders accountable.
He also suggested measuring the proportion of Nigerians with National Identification Numbers (NIN) who actively participate in digital transactions.
Together, these proposals reflect an emerging shift from measuring access alone to measuring quality, trust and usage.
Trust, Security and the Fraud Challenge
No payment ecosystem can thrive without trust.
Cardoso’s target of reducing fraud losses to less than 0.001 per cent of total transactions by 2028 reflected the centrality of security to the vision.
The strategy relies heavily on integrating NIN and Bank Verification Number (BVN) systems alongside artificial intelligence-driven fraud detection capabilities.
At the panel session, OPay Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Dotun Adekunle, reinforced this objective.
He observed that previous generations of financial innovation often prioritised technological possibilities while underestimating security risks.
According to him, the emergence of stronger cybersecurity frameworks under the CBN represents a significant turning point.
Rather than treating cybersecurity as a compliance exercise, institutions are increasingly being assessed against robust resilience standards.
Adekunle’s optimism suggests that the industry now possesses a clearer roadmap for balancing innovation with security.
Ultimately, however, trust extends beyond cybersecurity. It includes confidence that transactions will be completed successfully, complaints will be resolved promptly and money will remain accessible when needed.
From Payment Adoption to Payment Export
One of the most forward-looking discussions focused on Nigeria’s global ambitions.
Cardoso challenged stakeholders to tell Nigeria’s fintech success story more effectively, warning that failure to shape the narrative allows others to define it.
Atanda also echoed this sentiment strongly.
He argued that many of Nigeria’s most significant payment innovations remain under-recognised internationally. Long before concepts such as Open Banking gained prominence globally, Nigeria had already achieved remarkable interoperability through locally developed solutions.
For him, PSV 2028 should include deliberate efforts to export Nigerian payment technologies across Africa.
He proposed closer collaboration among the payments ecosystem, trade authorities and investment agencies to develop a continental expansion strategy.
Oiwoh reinforced the urgency of this opportunity.
According to him, more than 35 African countries engaged with Nigeria’s payment ecosystem in the previous year alone.
Failure to seize this moment could mean surrendering influence, competitiveness and economic advantage to rival payment hubs elsewhere on the continent.
The implication is profound: PSV 2028 is not merely about domestic financial inclusion. It is also about securing Nigeria’s position within the future architecture of African commerce.
The Real Test Begins
The launch of PSV 2028 has generated optimism because it builds on a proven foundation. Nigeria already possesses one of Africa’s most sophisticated payment ecosystems, a thriving fintech sector and an increasingly digital population.
Yet the discussions surrounding the launch also revealed that the next phase of transformation will be significantly more complex than previous ones.
The challenge is no longer simply creating payment infrastructure. It is ensuring affordability, expanding trust, improving customer experience, strengthening cybersecurity, deepening inclusion and converting domestic innovation into global influence.
If Cardoso’s vision succeeds, Nigeria could emerge by 2028 with near-universal financial inclusion, world-class payment infrastructure, stronger economic productivity and a leading role in shaping Africa’s digital payments future.
But as several participants repeatedly stressed, success will depend less on the elegance of the framework than on the discipline of execution.
