Nigeria’s digital payments system processed about 11 billion transactions in 2024, highlighting the rapid scale Nigeria has reached in real-time payments and reinforcing policy plans to achieve near-universal e-payment penetration by 2030 under the Payments System Vision.
The figure, published in the Central Bank of Nigeria Fintech Report, represents a sharp rise from about 5 billion transactions recorded in 2022. According to the report, this growth reflects how instant payments have become deeply embedded in everyday financial activity across the country, covering personal transfers, business transactions, and institutional payments.
Nigeria’s real-time payments journey dates back to 2011, when the country launched a nationwide, real-time interoperable payments infrastructure. The report explained that this early rollout made instant interbank transfers a standard feature of financial life in Nigeria well ahead of many advanced and emerging economies, laying the groundwork for the scale now being recorded.
The Central Bank noted that this infrastructure has been strengthened through sustained collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System and other ecosystem players. “Nigeria’s instant payments system is one of the most mature, resilient, and widely adopted real-time payment platforms globally,” the report stated, pointing to more than a decade of operational experience managing payments at population scale.
Data in the report shows that over 25 percent of all electronic transactions in Nigeria are now processed through real-time payment channels. This share underscores the central role instant payments play in the financial system, moving them from a supporting tool to core national infrastructure that underpins commerce and daily economic activity.
The growth from about 5 billion transactions in 2022 to 11 billion in 2024 illustrates how quickly adoption has accelerated. The Central Bank said this pace places Nigeria among the top adopters of real-time payments globally and clearly positions the country as a leader on the African continent in terms of digital payments volume.
Beyond scale, the report linked transaction growth to long-term policy direction. It explained that the expansion of real-time payments aligns with the Payments System Vision 2025, which sets out a pathway toward near-universal electronic payment usage by 2030. This vision, according to the Central Bank, provides a framework for ensuring that digital payments become accessible, reliable, and widely used across sectors and regions.
“The maturity of Nigeria’s real-time payments infrastructure and the scale of transactions processed demonstrate what is possible when policy, infrastructure, and industry collaboration are aligned,” the report said. It added that Nigeria’s experience offers practical lessons for other high-growth and emerging markets navigating similar transitions to digital finance.
With more than a quarter of electronic transactions already occurring in real time, the Central Bank described instant payments as a foundation for broader digital economic activity. The report noted that salaries, retail purchases, transfers, and business settlements increasingly rely on these rails, reinforcing their importance to financial stability and efficiency.
The report also highlighted that managing high transaction volumes has helped build system resilience. Nigeria’s instant payment rails were described as widely adopted and trusted, attributes that have supported steady growth even during periods of broader economic pressure and adjustment.
Looking ahead, the Central Bank tied current performance directly to future ambitions. The Payments System Vision aims to deepen electronic payment penetration nationwide, ensuring that both urban and rural users can participate fully in the digital economy by 2030. Real-time payments, the report said, will remain central to achieving this goal.
By spotlighting the 11 billion transactions processed in 2024, the Central Bank positioned payments infrastructure as a pillar of Nigeria’s digital finance strategy. “Nigeria’s early adoption and operational experience provide a strong base for the next phase of resilience, access, and governance improvements,” the report stated, linking past investments to future readiness.
The report further stressed that sustaining growth toward near-universal e-payment usage will require continued coordination across the ecosystem. Ongoing collaboration between regulators, infrastructure providers, and market participants was described as essential to maintaining capacity, reliability, and public confidence as transaction volumes continue to rise.
The Central Bank said its role will remain focused on supporting a payments environment where scale is matched by stability. The report emphasised that as real-time payments grow, maintaining trust, operational efficiency, and system integrity will be key to meeting long-term targets set out in the Payments System Vision.
Nigeria’s experience since the 2011 launch of real-time payments illustrates how early infrastructure decisions can shape long-term outcomes. By building an interoperable system and scaling it steadily over time, the country has been able to accommodate rapid growth in transaction volumes while keeping instant payments at the centre of economic activity.
As Nigeria moves closer to its 2030 target, the Central Bank said the combination of scale, policy clarity, and established infrastructure provides confidence that near-universal e-payment penetration remains achievable within the Payments System Vision framework.
