Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Advancement (EFInA) has released the findings of its ninth Access to Financial Services in Nigeria (A2F) Survey, showing that 79 per cent of Nigerian adults, representing approximately 94.2 million people, now use a financial product or service.
The findings, released on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, also showed that formal financial inclusion had reached 73 per cent, or roughly 87.2 million adults, exceeding the 70 per cent target set under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.
The findings were presented under the theme, ‘Access. Opportunity. Growth: Advancing Financial and Economic Inclusion for All Nigerians,’ before senior government officials, regulators, financial service providers, development partners and civil society organisations.
The programme opened with pre-event breakout sessions focused on women’s economic and financial inclusion, agricultural livelihoods and financial resilience. The sessions were convened with the World Bank Global Environment Facility Small Grants Program (GEF SGP), Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), respectively.
Opening the main plenary, Dr Agnes Olatokunbo Martins, Board Chair, EFInA, said the theme captured both the progress made and the ambition that should guide the next phase of Nigeria’s financial inclusion journey.
She described the value of the survey as its ability to show what administrative data cannot, explaining that while administrative data can provide information on accounts, transactions, infrastructure and providers, the A2F survey provides insight into the people behind those numbers.
Martins cautioned against designing policies around a national average, noting that financial needs and experiences differ by income, gender, geography, age and economic activity.
In a keynote address delivered on behalf of Mr Olayemi Cardoso, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Aisha A. Isa-Olatinwo, Director, Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion, CBN, said the evidence produced by the survey was indispensable to policy design, market development, consumer protection and the effective targeting of reforms.
The address highlighted a shift in what the sector should now be working towards.
‘The policy challenge before us is therefore no longer simply to open accounts or expand access points,’ the Governor said. ‘It is to ensure meaningful usage, affordability, reliability, safety, trust and measurable improvement in financial health.’
Delivering a goodwill message, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, Director-General of the National Pension Commission, welcomed the increase in pension participation from eight per cent of adults in 2023 to 9.1 per cent, while pointing to the scale of what remains to be done.
‘Roughly nine out of every ten Nigerians are not covered for the day they can no longer work,’ she said.
Oloworaran invited EFInA to work with the commission on a dedicated pension inclusion model, arguing that opening an account is not, by itself, pension inclusion because an account that is open but never funded will not provide dignity in retirement.
Ahead of the release of the data, HH Sanusi Muhammadu Sanusi II CON, Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, reflected on the 18 years since Nigeria’s financial inclusion agenda began during a fireside chat anchored by Prof. Olayinka David-West, Dean and Professor of Information Systems, Lagos Business School.
Opening the conversation, Prof. David-West observed that bank access stood at only 21 per cent in 2008, while exclusion now stands at 21 per cent, describing the shift as an inversion of the pyramid.
His Highness welcomed the continuity of financial inclusion as a policy priority across successive administrations and pointed to the Bank Verification Number (BVN) as evidence of what durable infrastructure makes possible.
On protecting households, he identified price stability as the foundation.
‘There is no enemy to savings, no enemy to wealth, that is bigger than inflation,’ he said, urging the Central Bank to remain focused on price stability and resist pressure to ease before inflation reaches a tolerable level.
The fireside chat was followed by the unveiling of the A2F 2026 Survey Report and presentation of the key findings by Foyinsolami Akinjayeju, CEO, EFInA.
The findings showed that digital financial services had reached 64.4 per cent of adults, up from 45 per cent in 2023 and 34 per cent in 2020.
The rise represents the largest movement recorded in the latest survey, with digital use also tracking closely with better financial outcomes. The survey found that 33 per cent of digital users were financially healthy, compared with 9.1 per cent of non-users.
On financial health, Akinjayeju noted that ‘three out of four Nigerians are not financially healthy,’ adding that access was increasing while financial health was not catching up at the same pace.
She called for national targets to measure impact alongside access and use of financial services.
Commenting on the findings, Dr Oluwatomi Eromosele, Research Lead, EFInA, said the next phase of financial inclusion should focus on precision, conversion and outcomes.
‘The message from A2F 2026 is clear: Nigeria’s financial inclusion challenge has changed. The next phase must be about precision: reaching the people and places where gaps remain; conversion: turning existing financial relationships into pathways to credit, protection, investment and financial security; and outcomes: ensuring that inclusion ultimately strengthens people’s resilience and economic opportunity. We now have the evidence; the priority is to use it to focus action where it can make the greatest difference,’ Eromosele said.
In a closing remark, Amb. Nimi Akinkugbe, Member, EFInA, said the real measure of the survey would not be the quality of the data unveiled but what changes as a result of it.
She asked where resources would be directed, which interventions would be scaled and what stakeholders would be able to say had changed in the lives of Nigerians by the time they next met.
Akinkugbe also drew attention to the gender findings across the zones, noting that formal inclusion gaps between men and women were often modest, while inclusion was not translating into financial health and resilience at the same rate, with the gaps widest in the north.
‘The challenge is not simply bringing more women into the system, but making sure that participation actually results in improved economic lives,’ she said.
For more targeted supply-side discussions, the A2F 2026 Industry Engagement is scheduled to hold on September 25, 2026, in Lagos for financial service providers, fintechs, insurers and investors.