The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has launched a Payments Service Providers Committee to improve coordination in the country's rapidly expanding digital payments sector. At the inaugural meeting in Lagos on Thursday, Abdullahi Sani, deputy governor for Economic Policy, said the committee—chaired by the CBN and co-led by Deputy Governor Philip Ikeazor—brings together all licensed payment service providers, regulators and key industry players. Digital transactions in Nigeria surpassed N1.07 quadrillion in 2024, the first time the sector crossed the quadrillion-naira threshold, with over 11.2 billion electronic transactions recorded that year. Growth has continued into 2025 and early 2026, prompting the need for stronger policy alignment and real-time collaboration.
The committee includes the Nigerian Communications Commission, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation and Securities and Exchange Commission, and will meet quarterly to address regulatory and operational challenges. Sani noted that industry stakeholders had long pushed for a formal engagement platform with regulators, which the new structure now provides. The CBN plans to launch a new Payments System Vision within the next month, developed in collaboration with fintechs, mobile money operators and other providers. Ikeazor said fraud cases in the payments system dropped by about 50 percent between 2024 and 2025, crediting improved surveillance and the rollout of Project Radar, an automated anti-fraud and anti-money laundering tool. Emem Usoro, deputy governor for Corporate Services, attended the event, while Premier Oiwoh, managing director of NIBSS, welcomed the committee as a long-overdue step to deepen sector efficiency.
A committee launch doesn't fix systemic flaws, no matter how many deputy governors attend. The real story is not the N1.07 quadrillion in transactions, but the 50 percent drop in fraud cases—proof that automated systems like Project Radar deliver more than talk. If the CBN sustains this momentum, Nigerian users may finally see safer, faster digital transactions without relying on cash. But committees that meet just four times a year risk becoming talking shops, not solution engines.
