NIGERIA’S JOURNEY TOWARDS GLOBAL INTEGRATION: THE TRANSFORMATIVE ROLE OF PAYMENTS

Editor’s Note: This article was originally written on October 30, 2025 and is being republished here for archival purposes.

Introduction

In recent years, Nigeria has embarked on a deliberate journey towards deeper global economic integration. This push toward globalisation encompasses trade liberalisation, investment attraction, infrastructure development, and financial innovation. Central to all of these is the payments ecosystem—often overlooked, yet foundational for seamless domestic and cross-border flows of goods, services, capital, and data. This article examines how Nigeria’s globalisation agenda links closely with the evolution of its payments systems, the key enablers and obstacles, and the path ahead.

Nigeria’s Globalisation Agenda

Nigeria’s globalisation push can be viewed in multiple dimensions:

1. Trade and investment liberalisation
   Through reforms such as port-concessions, trade facilitation, and citizenship-by-investment schemes, Nigeria is signaling a shift toward being more open to foreign capital and global commerce.
2. Financial infrastructure alignment
   For Nigeria to participate meaningfully in global value chains and attract foreign investment, its financial architecture—including payments, settlement and messaging standards—must meet global norms. (For example, the migration to ISO 20022 messaging is a case in point.)
3. Digital economy and fintech leadership
   Nigeria is positioning itself as a hub for fintech innovation in Africa, which complements globalisation by enabling cross-border service provision, remittances, diaspora flows and digital exports.
4. Financial inclusion and formalisation
   A more globally-connected economy demands formal channels, transparency and scale. Strengthening payments systems supports inclusion, which enhances domestic participation in global flows.

In summary, Nigeria’s globalisation drive is not simply about tariffs or export quotas—it’s about building the plumbing so that transactions, value and data can flow with minimal friction across borders, markets and platforms.

The Role of Payments in Globalisation

Payments systems are a critical enabler of globalisation in several key ways:

a) Facilitating cross-border trade and investment

Goods and services crossing borders must be paid for, often quickly and in different currencies. Nigeria’s adherence to globally accepted payments standards (e.g., ISO 20022) enhances its ability to integrate into global trade and capital networks.

b) Improving domestic efficiency and export competitiveness

Efficient domestic payments reduce transaction costs, speed up supply chains, and improve competitiveness of Nigerian firms in global markets. A modern payments ecosystem strengthens the “back-office” of global trade. For example, instant and electronic payments support smoother procurement, logistics and settlement.

c) Enabling remittances, diaspora flows and financial inclusion

Globalisation involves movement of people, capital and remittances. Nigeria benefits from diaspora remittances and needs payments channels that are cheap, fast and reliable. As digital payments increase, more citizens can channel funds globally and domestically with ease.

d) Integrating into global financial architecture

To attract foreign finance, participate in global markets, and enable foreign firms to operate in Nigeria, the payments infrastructure must align with global norms—such as real-time settlement, interoperable platforms and secure messaging. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s mandate for the payment system emphasises being “nationally utilised and internationally recognised”.

Achievements: Nigeria’s Payments Transformation

Nigeria has seen significant milestones in its payments transformation:

• Electronic and real-time payment volumes have soared. The country recorded 3.7 billion real-time transactions in 2021, unlocking about US $3.2 billion in economic output (≈ 0.67 % of GDP).
• The CBN reports that the payments system has been repositioned to be globally competitive, with innovations such as QR codes, instant payments, and the eNaira.
• Cash usage is declining sharply: between 2014 and 2024 cash transactions in Nigeria fell by 59%.
• The CBN’s “Payments System Vision 2020” and related work show the institutional commitment to modernising payments.

These developments are foundational for Nigeria’s ability to link to global financial flows, integrate into supply chains and support digital trade.

Challenges and Constraints

Despite this progress, several challenges remain:

• Infrastructure constraints: Power outages, network reliability, and rural connectivity limit the reach of digital payments—especially important if globalisation is to benefit beyond urban centres.
• Trust, adoption and inclusion: While payments volumes have grown, many Nigerians remain unbanked or under-banked. Digital payment adoption must be inclusive to enable participation in global flows.
• Regulatory and data-governance issues: Participating globally means complying with international standards (AML/KYC, cross-border protocols, data-sharing). Transitioning to ISO 20022 is one example of such technical and regulatory upgrade.
• Currency risk and capital flows: Globalisation exposes Nigeria to foreign currency volatility, capital flight and external shocks—payments systems must manage these risks.
• Informal economy and cash dominance: Although cash is declining, the informal sector remains large in Nigeria. Globalisation typically favours economies with high formal-sector participation; payments modernization helps formalise activity but this remains a work in progress.

Strategic Implications for Nigeria

Given the above, Nigeria should consider the following strategic priorities:

1. Accelerate cross-border payments interoperability
   Bridging domestic payments systems with international rails (e.g., SWIFT, cross-border fast-payment networks) will facilitate trade, investment and remittances.
2. Extend payments infrastructure to underserved regions
   Ensuring the payments reforms benefit SMEs, rural traders, and informal sectors will broaden Nigeria’s participation in global commerce and digital exports.
3. Harness data from payments for competitiveness
   Rich payment-data (via ISO 20022-style messaging) enables firms and government to track trade flows, assess risk, and support decision-making. Nigerian businesses can leverage this to integrate into global supply-chains.
4. Manage external linkages and currency risk
   With greater global financial integration, Nigeria must safeguard the stability of its cross-border payment flows, currency settlements and capital accounts.
5. Promote fintech innovation as a globalisation lever
   Nigeria’s fintech sector presents an opportunity to supply payments and financial-services solutions regionally and globally. Encouraging export-oriented fintech and payments platforms helps embed Nigeria into the global digital economy.

Conclusion

Nigeria’s push toward globalisation is more than trade liberalisation or foreign-investment drives. At its core is a payments infrastructure that enables economic actors—domestic and foreign—to transact seamlessly, securely and at scale. The modernization of payments in Nigeria is thus a linchpin of its global ambitions. While challenges remain—especially in inclusion, infrastructure and regulation—the direction is clear and the momentum strong. As Nigeria deepens its global links, its payments systems will increasingly serve as the unsung backbone of that transformation.

References

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