Digital Finance Lifts Nigeria’s Financial Inclusion To 79%

By Jennete Ugo Anya

Nigeria’s financial inclusion rate has risen to 79 percent, equivalent to about 94.2 million adults, as digital financial services become a major channel for bringing more Nigerians into the formal financial system.

DEVELOPMENT:
The 2026 Access to Financial Services in Nigeria (A2F) Survey by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA), released in Lagos, showed that formal financial inclusion also climbed to 73 percent, or about 87.2 million adults. This is above the 70 percent target under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.

EFInA Board Chair, Dr Agnes Olatokunbo Martins, said that the survey provides insight that administrative data cannot fully capture, particularly how people experience financial services across income, gender, geography, age and economic activity.

DATA:
Digital financial service usage rose to 64.4 percent of Nigerian adults in 2026, from 45 percent in 2023 and 34 percent in 2020.

Pension participation increased from eight percent of adults in 2023 to 9.1 percent, according to Omolola Oloworaran, Director-General (DG), National Pension Commission (PenCom).

SIGNIFICANCE:
The figures indicate that Nigeria’s inclusion challenge is shifting from simply bringing people into the financial system towards ensuring that access produces meaningful economic outcomes.

In a keynote address delivered on behalf of Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, Director, Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion, Dr Aisha A. Isa-Olatinwo, said: “The policy challenge before us is therefore no longer simply to open accounts or expand access points. It is to ensure meaningful usage, affordability, reliability, safety, trust and measurable improvement in financial health.”

Oloworaran highlighted the pension gap: “Roughly nine out of every ten Nigerians are not covered for the day they can no longer work.”

She called for a dedicated pension inclusion model with EFInA, stressing that an unfunded account does not constitute meaningful pension inclusion.

NEXT MOVE:
EFInA Research Lead, Dr Oluwatomi Eromosele, said that the next phase requires greater precision in reaching underserved people and locations, converting financial relationships into access to credit, protection, investment and financial security, and measuring outcomes.

“The message from A2F 2026 is clear: Nigeria’s financial inclusion challenge has changed. The next phase must be about precision: reaching the people and places where gaps remain; conversion: turning existing financial relationships into pathways to credit, protection, investment and financial security; and outcomes: ensuring that inclusion ultimately strengthens people’s resilience and economic opportunity. We now have the evidence; the priority is to use it to focus action where it can make the greatest difference.”

OUR LENS:
The deeper issue is whether rising access can translate into financial resilience. EFInA Member, Amb. Nimi Akinkugbe, said that the survey’s value would ultimately be measured by what changes after the data is released, including where resources go and which interventions are scaled.

She also highlighted gender disparities, particularly in northern Nigeria, where inclusion is not translating into financial health and resilience at the same rate.

“The challenge is not simply bringing more women into the system, but making sure that participation actually results in improved economic lives,” she said.

Jennete Ugo Anya is a journalist and researcher with interests across Nigeria’s economy, public policy, business, MSMEs, development and strategic communications, Foreign direct investments, development finance institutions.