This is Follow the Money, our weekly series that unpacks the earnings, business, and scaling strategies of African fintechs, financial institutions, companies, and governments. A new edition drops every Monday. Nigeria has made progress in bringing more people into the formal financial system, but having a bank account does not necessarily mean being able to obtain a loan.
While more Nigerians can now access financial services, borrowing costs, limited credit histories, and irregular incomes still shape who can obtain formal credit and on what terms. According to the 2026 Access to Financial Services in Nigeria (A2F) survey by Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), formal financial inclusion rose to 73%, up from 64% in 2023. The proportion of adults excluded from the financial system fell from 26% to 21%.
EFInA estimates that 87.2 million Nigerian adults are now formally included, yet only about 12 million (10%) access formal credit. These figures show that financial inclusion is not the same as access to credit. Financial inclusion encompasses access to and use of services such as payments, savings, insurance and borrowing. A person may have a bank account, receive payments digitally and save through a formal institution without qualifying for a loan.
For lenders, they must determine whether a borrower earns enough to repay, whether that income can be verified, what other financial obligations the borrower has, and how likely they are to meet the repayment schedule. As a result, people can participate in the formal financial system and still struggle to obtain affordable credit.
According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), outstanding consumer credit fell from ₦4.72 trillion ($3.5 billion) in 2024 to ₦3.78 trillion ($2.8 billion) in 2025, a decline of 19.92%. For borrowers who struggle to obtain affordable loans from formal lenders, informal sources are offering an alternative,