Nigeria Ranks 10th in Digital & Financial Inclusion Report

Nigeria received 72% of the total possible points across all four dimensions in Brookings Institute’s 2016 Financial and Digital Inclusion Project (FDIP) Report, meaning it ranked 10th out of 26 countries on overall score.

The report evaluates commitment to and progress toward financial inclusion across a set of 26 geographically, politically, and economically diverse countries, including Nigeria.

Authors John D. Villasenor, Darrell M. West, and Robin J. Lewis write, said: "Evaluating progress toward adoption of affordable formal financial services matters because financial inclusion is a key ingredient in promoting household welfare and broader economic development." And with approximately two billion adults around the world lacking access to formal financial services, there is room for a great deal of improvement globally.

This year's report, the second in an annual series, measures countries on four "dimensions" of financial inclusion: country commitment, mobile capacity, regulatory environment, and the adoption of traditional and digital financial services.

Other interesting findings pertaining to the country include: Several super-agent arrangements expected to advance financial inclusion by broadening the financial services distribution network have emerged.

In September 2015, the "GloXchange" network (a partnership between Globacom and Firstmonie (a subsidiary of First Bank Nigeria), Ecobank, Stanbic IBTC, and Zenith Bank) was launched commercially. MTN has formed similar arrangements, including with Diamond Bank's Y'ello account.

* As of April 2016, the Nigerian Postal Services expected to soon introduce certain banking services to rural areas of Nigeria, which should help enable access to formal financial transactions and e-commerce among marginalized populations.

*However, limiting the role of mobile network operators in the mobile money sector has been a potentially constraining factor within the digital financial services market in Nigeria.