NIGERIA’s Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) is preparing a major policy shift that could reshape the nation’s financial landscape: the elimination of transfer fees on the widely used NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform.
News Point Nigeria reports that Premier Oiwoh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NIBSS, made the announcement on Thursday at the Globus Bank Fintech Summit 2025 in Lagos, where he delivered a keynote address titled “From Cashless to Smart Economies: Shaping the Next Frontier of Financial Innovation.”
Oiwoh explained that the reform, expected to begin next year, will move the system from a fee-per-transaction model to a subscription-based framework.
“By next year, we’ll be starting a program 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,” he declared.
According to him, the ultimate goal is to make digital payments more attractive than cash, which he described as the industry’s biggest competition.
Highlighting Nigeria’s potential to transition from a cash-heavy society into a digitally driven economy, Oiwoh stressed the need for stronger infrastructure, interoperability, and resilience against fraud and cybercrime.
He pointed out that while nations like India and China successfully executed national strategies to integrate millions of unbanked citizens into the formal financial system, Nigeria still operates in silos without a coordinated, government-led framework.
“Opening bank accounts without ensuring economic inclusion is not enough. We need deliberate policies to make financial access meaningful,” he said.
Oiwoh applauded regulators, particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), for aligning Nigeria with global standards such as the adoption of ISO 20022 messaging, which harmonizes the country’s payment systems with international benchmarks.
Speaking on Afrigo, Nigeria’s national card scheme, Oiwoh disclosed that the platform has already processed over ₦70 billion worth of transactions in 2025, with over one million cards in circulation. He described Afrigo as the only card in the world enabling instant credit on POS transactions, making it highly attractive to merchants nationwide.
He further revealed that the soon-to-be-launched multipurpose National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) ID card will integrate Afrigo rails, enabling millions of Nigerians to directly access financial services through their national identification cards.
On cybersecurity, Oiwoh issued a stern warning to banks and fintechs, urging them to place compliance above profit-making.
“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 cited the NIBSS Hawk platform, which has successfully intercepted multiple fraud attempts, as an example of industry-wide vigilance. Insider collaboration, he added, remains one of the greatest threats to digital trust.
The NIBSS boss urged stronger partnerships among banks, fintechs, and payment service providers, stressing that true progress lies in collectively challenging the dominance of cash rather than competing against each other.
With government-backed initiatives such as fintech demo days, geo-tagging, QR codes, NFC, and biometric payment solutions, Oiwoh expressed optimism that Nigeria is on the verge of a smart economy powered by digital innovation.
“Payments are not the destination,” he concluded, “but the foundation for building a vibrant digital economy where innovation, inclusion, and trust drive prosperity.”