The managing director and chief executive officer, Nigeria’s Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), Premier Oiwoh, has announced plans to eliminate transfer fees on the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform in a bid to accelerate the country’s transition from cash-heavy transactions to a smart, digitally driven economy.
He disclosed this at the Globus Bank Fintech Summit 2025 in Lagos while delivering a keynote address themed “From Cashless to Smart Economies: Shaping the Next Frontier of Financial Innovation.”
“By next year, we’ll be starting a programme towards the complete elimination of the NIP fee, making it zero cost into a subscription model. The general idea is to promote innovation around it,” Oiwoh said.
“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 added.
According to Oiwoh, the future of Nigeria’s financial ecosystem hinges on strengthening national payment infrastructure, deepening interoperability, and building resilient systems that can withstand fraud, cyber threats, and operational failures.
He noted that while India and China had deliberate national strategies to bring the unbanked into the financial system, Nigeria still operates largely in silos. He called for a coordinated action plan led at the highest levels of government to drive true financial inclusion, stressing that opening bank accounts without ensuring economic inclusion is insufficient.
Oiwoh also praised the resilience of Nigeria’s regulators, particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), for driving standards such as the adoption of ISO 20022 messaging, which will align Nigeria’s payment systems with global benchmarks.
