The recent launch of the Nigeria Payments System Vision (PSV) 2028 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) marks a pivotal milestone in the nation’s journey towards a digital economy. The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc commends the Governor of the CBN, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, and the apex bank’s leadership for establishing this forward-thinking blueprint. As the Governor noted during his speech, “this is a national roadmap designed to fundamentally transform how every Nigerian transacts, trades, saves, and invests.”

At NIBSS, this vision is viewed as a mission that aligns with our core operational mandate. As the bedrock of Nigeria’s digital payment infrastructure, our strategic initiatives are engineered to serve as the primary execution engine for the pillars outlined in the vision.

To drive this execution, the National Payment Stack (NPS) serves as a platform and key fundamental anchor for the vision’s core pillars:

• Financial Inclusion: PSV 2028 target 95% formal financial inclusion rate by 2028, bringing over 50 million more Nigerians into the formal financial The NPS supports this ambition by providing scalable, cost-efficient infrastructure that extends secure digital payment platform access to underserved communities, while enabling sovereign initiatives such as the AfriGO domestic card scheme to deepen acceptance across urban and rural markets.

• Infrastructure: As digital transactions grow exponentially, the NPS utilizes the global ISO 20022 messaging standard to deliver high-capacity, real-time settlement. This architecture enhances system resilience, reduces transaction friction, and ensures seamless interoperability across banks, fintechs, OFIs, merchants, and government payment systems. This provides the foundation to support PSV 2028’s ambition to expand payment acceptance through millions of QR and tap-to-pay touchpoints
• Innovation and Digital Assets: PSV 2028 envisions greater collaboration through open APIs, enabling next-generation fintech solutions, reducing cash outside the banking system to less than 40%, and creating the conditions for Nigeria’s next global fintech unicorn by 2028. Supporting this vision, the NPS provides interoperable payment infrastructure that powers an open API economy, enabling fintechs and financial institutions to build, scale, and accelerate innovative digital financial solutions.

Beyond domestic growth, the NPS expands Nigeria’s reach while securing the digital ecosystem:

• Cross-Border Payments: By natively adopting the international ISO 20022 standards, the NPS positions Nigeria’s payment infrastructure globally, simplifying cross-border messaging, reducing settlement complexities, and enabling deeper integration with regional and global financial systems in line with PSV 2028’s broader integration
• Cybersecurity and Consumer Trust: Trust remains the foundation for the future of digital finance. The NPS integrates advanced security architecture, intelligence monitoring, and enhanced fraud management tools designed to strengthen economic resilience, safeguard transactions, and support the vision’s objective of reducing fraud losses to less than 0.001% by 2028.

The NPS is a journey that marks the beginning of a major milestone in the future of payments in Nigeria. It provides a future-ready foundation that will continuously evolve to meet emerging needs and opportunities; working closely with ecosystem partners to enable innovation and the development of new solutions that drive greater value for the ecosystem.

The successful realization of PSV 2028 requires collaboration across all ecosystem players. The vision has been set, and the targets have been identified; it is time for the ecosystem to execute.