E-Financial
Over 3m Nigerians’ Use Paga
Amidst the constant debate around the success of mobile payments in Nigeria; Paga, the country’s leading payments company has announced a significant rise in the adoption of its services, with over 3 million users now using its agent and online/mobile payment channels to send and receive payments.
Less than 8 months since announcing its last million user milestone – the company reached 2 million users in November 2014; Tayo Oviosu, Paga founder and CEO, credited the rapid growth to understanding the unique challenges faced by Nigerians looking for a simpler way to make payments.
“For my team and I, the issues around payments are far reaching. It goes past being able to move money from point A to B. In the 6 years Paga has been in operation we have developed a relationship with our customers. We hear their stories and we know that every transaction that occurs on our platform is more than just money. It’s someone trying to pay for something in a less stressful way. Whether it’s paying for a TV subscription; child’s school fees; a visa; people buying airtime to stay connected to the ones they love or a new business finally being able to accept payments from its customers. . With every transaction there is some emotional connotation for the end user and our ability to relate to that and create solutions that make everyday life possible for Nigerians is the #1 reason people continue to choose Paga.”
Founded in 2009 by Tayo Oviosu, the company remains focused on building a payments ecosystem that can be leveraged by banks, businesses, and consumers. Paga’s agent network is at the core of that ecosystem.
Paga now has over 8,300 agents in 35 states – the largest and most active network in Nigeria. The agents are locations where people can comfortably go in to make payments within their community.
On what next for Paga and the future of mobile payments, Jay Alabraba, co-founder and director of Business Development for Paga, said…“We believe strongly that accessibility still has a big role to play in the future of mobile payments and financial inclusion. With the unique challenges around connectivity in Nigeria, having a viable agent network remains key to ensuring that every Nigerian, irrespective of their location has access to finance. Our agent network is a key part of the Paga success story, and we currently have over 8,000 agents…and the numbers are growing every day.
We are now engaged with our bank partners for the next phase of our evolution is partnering with banks for agent banking -the delivery of banking productsthrough our agent network. By partnering with banks we believe we can ensure that all Nigerians get banked.This will also bring greater offerings to our agents who are all business owners in their own right. We are very excited about what the future holds as we further open up our network.”
Since inception Paga has processed over 15 million transactions worth over N154 billion and has over 800,000 active users.
The figures and this new milestone for Paga show that the industry is making more progress than previously reported. Looking forward, it is easier to see the role Paga and the rest of the industry will play in reducing the obvious issues around payments in Nigeria, boosting economic returns and promoting financial inclusion.
World Bank has approved an additional $65 million loan for Nigeria to support the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) project, increasing the total financing for the initiative to $145 million.
The approval was granted on June 24, 2025, according to details posted on the World Bank’s website, which also indicates that the project’s status has moved to “active” following the approval.
The SPESSE project, initially launched with an $80 million loan approved in February 2020, aims to strengthen institutional capacity for managing procurement, environmental, and social standards in both the public and private sectors across Nigeria.
The World Bank described the project’s development objective as the establishment of sustainable capacity in these areas.
This latest approval is part of a broader wave of financing expected from the World Bank to Nigeria in 2025.
The bank is scheduled to approve loans totalling $1.61 billion over the coming months, supporting various development initiatives.
Among these is a $300 million loan for the ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project,’ expected to be finalised by the end of July.
This project aims to improve access to basic services and economic opportunities for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in selected local government areas in northern Nigeria.
In September, the World Bank plans to approve four additional loans: a $10.5 million facility to support technical assistance for the Central Bank of Nigeria, a $300 million Health Security Program targeting Western and Central Africa (Nigeria – Phase IV), a $500 million project for building resilient digital infrastructure (BRIDGE), and a $500 million loan under the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value-Chains for Growth project aimed at promoting sustainable growth and job creation within key agricultural sectors.
Earlier in March 2025, the bank approved three financing requests amounting to $1.13 billion.
These funds are directed towards projects focused on enhancing quality education, boosting household and community resilience, and improving nutrition.
Among the approved loans were $80 million for the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria 2.0 project, $552 million for the HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All programme, and $500 million for the Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Programme.
In February, the Nigerian government announced expectations of new World Bank loans totalling $2.2 billion for six different projects in 2025. This follows a $1.5 billion loan disbursed in 2024 aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s economic stability and resource mobilisation efforts.
Ecobank, a pan-African financial services group, has partnered with Google Cloud in a deal to improve financial services with advanced analytics, AI and driving digital empowerment across Africa.
This collaboration will focus on leveraging Google Cloud’s advanced technologies and AI to enhance Ecobank’s digital offerings to accelerate the digital transformation of the Bank.
The partnership agreement is designed to empower individuals, support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region, and contribute to the overall economic development of Africa.
“Our collaboration with Google Cloud is a leap forward in Ecobank’s digital transformation journey. We look forward to leveraging Google Cloud’s world-class technology to unlock new possibilities for individuals and businesses to grow and scale across Africa,” said Jeremy Awori, group chief executive officer of Ecobank.
“This collaboration signifies our shared intent to explore building a more connected and financially inclusive future for the continent.”
Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud, stated that Google Cloud and Ecobank have a shared vision for using technology to help deliver financial empowerment to more people and businesses in Africa.
“We look forward to exploring the ways our cutting-edge AI, powerful data analytics, and scalable infrastructure can support Ecobank’s efforts to fuel the continent’s economic development and digital future.”
The collaboration aims to simplify and streamline money transfers, both domestically and across borders. By leveraging Google Cloud’s capabilities, including its powerful data analytics platform, BigQuery, for AI-driven insights, Ecobank will aim to develop solutions that improve access to finance for SMEs, simplify payment acceptance, and provide valuable data-driven insights to help businesses scale across more than 33 countries in Africa.
Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has announced the successful close of the N148.7 billion Rights Issue subscription exercise following the completion of the verification exercise by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and final clearance by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Stanbic IBTC Holdings said the Rights Issue was oversubscribed by 21.9 percent, adding that the holding company has injected N140 billion into Stanbic IBTC Bank.
Kunle Adedeji, acting Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc while commenting on the just concluded rights issue programme said that “The turnout and participation of existing shareholders taking up their rights was impressive such that the rights issue was oversubscribed by 21.9percent to the tune of N181.4 billion. Our shareholders’ interest shows the confidence they continue to have in the brand,” he said.
“We appreciate the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria, The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Lead Issuing house, Joint Issuing houses and other stakeholders in the successful completion of the recapitalisation exercise.
“We are optimistic about future opportunities, as the injection of new capital will position us to take advantage of them to enable us to deliver to our shareholders. To all shareholders, we are grateful for your unwavering belief and support for the Stanbic IBTC Brand and your willingness to continue this journey with us,” Adedeji said.
Having received an injection of N140 billion from the parent company, the Chief Executive of the Banking subsidiary, Wole Adeniyi, remarked that “the injection of the new capital into the banking subsidiary is a positive development. This will enable the Bank to seize additional opportunities within the industry and enhance our Single Obligor Limit (SOL).
“We deeply appreciate the dedication and hard work of our regulators, issuing houses, and all other stakeholders. We extend our sincere gratitude for your continued support.”
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