Nigeria

Nigeria’s financial inclusion landscape includes both great hope and great challenges. As Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria has the potential to drive consumers toward financial inclusion, yet internal strife and economic instability have made progress uncertain. Nearly one in two Nigerians (46%) live below the poverty line, with research showing that being poor, rural and less educated are all barriers to inclusion. Today, banking leads the way to financial inclusion, with more than one-third of adults (34%) having bank accounts. Two in 100 adults (2%) have mobile money accounts and the same number (2%) have nonbank financial accounts. After committing to the Maya Declaration, the Nigerian government launched the National Financial Inclusion Strategy in 2012 to reduce the financially excluded to 20% by 2020. Although the goal is ambitious, the strategy reflects its long-term commitment to expanding financial services access and use to underserved populations.