October 06, (THEWILL) — The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), Premier Oiwoh, has announced plans to eliminate transfer fees on the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform to accelerate Nigeria’s transition from a cash-heavy economy to a digitally driven one.
Oiwoh disclosed this while delivering a keynote address at the Globus Bank Fintech Summit 2025 in Lagos, themed “From Cashless to Smart Economies: Shaping the Next Frontier of Financial Innovation.”
“By next year, we’ll begin a programme toward the complete elimination of the NIP fee, making it zero-cost under a subscription model. The goal is to promote innovation around the platform,” Oiwoh said.
He added that the biggest competition for the banking and fintech sectors remains cash in circulation, not rival institutions. “
Our biggest competition is not fintechs or banks; it is cash on the streets. Eliminating fees will make digital payments more attractive to everyday Nigerians,” he stated.
According to him, the future of Nigeria’s financial ecosystem depends on strengthening national payment infrastructure, enhancing interoperability, and building resilient systems that can withstand fraud, cyber threats, and operational failures.
He observed that while countries like India and China adopted national strategies to integrate the unbanked into their financial systems, Nigeria still operates largely in silos.
Oiwoh, therefore, called for coordinated action led by the government to drive true financial inclusion, stressing that opening bank accounts without ensuring economic participation is inadequate.
The NIBSS boss commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for championing global standards such as ISO 20022 messaging, which aligns the nation’s payment systems with international benchmarks.
On the national card scheme, AFRIGO, Oiwoh revealed that the platform has processed over N70 billion worth of transactions so far in 2025, with more than one million cards currently in circulation.
He described AFRIGO as the only card globally that enables instant credit on point-of-sale (POS) transactions, a feature driving rapid adoption among merchants.
He further announced that the forthcoming multipurpose National Identity Card from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) will be integrated with AFRIGO’s payment infrastructure, allowing millions of Nigerians to access financial services through their national IDs.
On fraud and cybersecurity, Oiwoh warned banks and fintechs against prioritising profit over compliance, urging greater investment in fraud prevention systems.
He highlighted the NIBSS Hawk platform as a major tool that has helped prevent multiple industry-wide fraud attempts.
“We must never put profitability above compliance. One regulatory sanction or a single fraud incident can wipe out years of profits. Building resilient, trusted systems is non-negotiable if we want Nigerians to embrace digital payments,” he cautioned.
He also stressed the importance of stronger collaboration among banks, fintechs, and payment service providers, saying real progress will come when digital solutions collectively compete against cash rather than one another.
Expressing optimism, Oiwoh said Nigeria is on the verge of becoming a smart economy powered by digital payments, supported by government-led innovations such as QR, NFC, biometric payments, and fintech demo programmes.
“Payments are not the destination,” he concluded, “but the foundation for building a vibrant digital economy where innovation, inclusion, and trust drive prosperity.”
Ogochukwu Onwaeze
