Africa Charts New Course With Homegrown Payment Systems
Africa is pushing to close its financial inclusion gap with a call for homegrown instant payment systems designed by Africans, for Africans.
At a peer learning forum in Lagos, hosted by the AfricaNenda Foundation in partnership with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), leaders from over 20 African countries agreed that imported technologies cannot fully address the continent’s unique economic and social realities.
Despite rapid fintech growth, more than 400 million Africans remain excluded from basic financial services. Dr. Robert Ochola, CEO of AfricaNenda, stressed that “Africa can build its own systems and make them world-class.”
NIBSS, already processing nearly a billion transactions monthly, unveiled the National Payment Stack (NPS) a next-generation platform integrating payments, identity, and data for a more secure and inclusive digital economy. Its features include real-time settlement, fraud detection tools, and cross-border capabilities.
Premier Oiwoh, CEO of NIBSS, called the initiative a “foundational investment in Nigeria’s financial future,” urging industry players to prioritise 100% reliability over near-perfect performance.
The conference also amplified calls for an Africa Regulators Forum on Instant Payment Systems to break down jurisdictional silos and accelerate cross-border collaboration.
With consensus building across the continent, Africa is positioning itself not just to digitise, but to include — ensuring that innovation reaches rural communities, women, youth, and the unbanked.