The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) on Thursday emerged as the only payment system in Africa to attain the matured inclusivity level.
This was announced at the launch of the State of Instant Payment Systems (SIIPS) 2025 report in Eswatini, with Nigeria receiving a standing ovation from bankers, investors, and other participants in the hall.
The 2025 report, produced by the AfricaNenda Foundation in partnership with the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE), the World Bank, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), assesses the state of payment systems on the continent.
It highlights the latest developments in the instant retail payment systems (IPS) ecosystem across Africa and evaluates how inclusive these systems are in terms of functionality and governance.
Instant payment systems (IPS) are retail payment systems that are open-loop, enabling irrevocable, low-value, digital credit push transactions in near real time, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
For the first time, a payment system has moved into the matured level — the highest level on AfricaNenda’s inclusivity spectrum. Nigeria was close to achieving this feat in 2024 but fell short on “providing additional recourse channels for end users.”
Announcing the development, AfricaNenda’s Deputy CEO, Sabine Mensah, described the achievement as groundbreaking and a major milestone for instant payment systems on the continent.
Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, Premier Oiwoh, the CEO and managing director of NIBSS, said the journey had been a long time coming.
“The setting up of the industry dispute resolution platform driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) helped to achieve this feat,” Mr Oiwoh said, adding that “the measures have reduced the number of disputes in the industry.”
AfricaNenda measures inclusivity on three metrics: unrated, basic progress, and mature.
According to the report, 10 payment systems are not ranked, 15 are at the basic level, 10 in progressed level with only NIBSS at the matured level.
“Nigeria’s NIP is the first IPS in Africa to reach the mature level of inclusivity. The biggest challenges progressed systems face in reaching mature inclusivity are enabling expanded use cases and additional recourse mechanisms,” the report read in part.
However, two other Nigerian payment systems; eNaira and Mobile Money Systems remain at the basic level.
NIBSS last week officially launched the National Payment Stack (NPS), a new digital infrastructure designed to unify and modernise the country’s payment systems.
