Nigeria’s digital payments are growing faster than the protection available to the people using them.
Development Diaries reports that mobile money transactions in Nigeria recently rose by 81 percent to N372 trillion, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), reflecting the rapid expansion of digital payments and financial inclusion across the country.
The figures suggest millions of Nigerians who once depended almost entirely on cash now send and receive money with their phones. But the growth also raises a different question because every successful transfer hides another reality of failed transactions, fraud and delayed refunds that many users struggle to resolve.
A payment system that moves trillions of naira should also know how to recover money that disappears.
Rural users often depend on agents with limited capacity to resolve complaints, older Nigerians are frequent targets of digital fraud, and low-income households can lose a week’s income through a single failed or fraudulent transaction.
It is also understood that first-time users attracted by the convenience of mobile money often discover those gaps only after becoming victims.
The CBN is responsible for supervising the country’s payments system and protecting consumers, while the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), mobile money operators and fintech companies are expected to ensure that transactions are secure and that customers receive timely support when problems occur.
The growth in digital payments will mean little if confidence in the system continues to disappear one unresolved complaint at a time.
Citizens should therefore report unresolved fraud and failed transactions to their financial service providers and to the CBN’s consumer-protection channels while keeping records of every complaint and demanding timely resolution.
The CBN should publish operator-by-operator data showing fraud complaints, failed-transaction volumes and average resolution times, establish binding deadlines for resolving consumer complaints, and require every licensed provider to maintain complaint channels that remain accessible to rural communities, older Nigerians and other vulnerable users.
