In recent years, Nigeria has earned a reputation as a fintech powerhouse on the African continent. From homegrown unicorns like Flutterwave and Paystack to the proliferation of savings and lending apps, the ecosystem has grown impressively, and there is no shortage of headlines celebrating the ingenuity and resilience of Nigerian tech entrepreneurs. However, beneath the surface of this digital boom lies a critical yet overlooked problem: the absence of a robust data infrastructure, which, if not addressed, threatens to stall its momentum.

If Nigeria is to truly harness the power of digital financial services, we must shift our focus from building more applications to laying down the rails they need to function. Data is the new oil, yes—but more accurately, it is digital gold. And just like gold, it must be mined, refined, and secured to create real value. Without this foundation, our fintech story risks becoming one of premature scale and unrealised impact.

Fintechs are built on the promise of democratising access to financial services. Yet, for many Nigerian startups, especially those in lending, insurance, and wealthtech, growth is constrained by one common limitation: incomplete or unreliable data. The promise of fintech lies in its ability to serve the underserved: the market woman in Kano, the Okada rider in Owerri, the young graduate in Lagos navigating their first job. These individuals often remain invisible to formal financial institutions because the data required to assess their financial behaviour is either incomplete, inconsistent, or inaccessible.

According to EFInA’s 2023 Financial Inclusion Survey, just 10.5% of Nigerian adults have access to formal credit. The issue is not only affordability or reach—it’s a question of trust and verification. Many Nigerians lack traditional credit history, and the current ecosystem does not sufficiently enable lenders to assess risk using alternative data such as telco activity, payment patterns, or utility bills. The absence of a common standard or infrastructure means fintechs must build bespoke integrations with telcos, banks, and other platforms, often duplicating work or relying on questionable methods like scraping SMS or accessing contact lists.

The consequences are twofold. First, many Nigerians are excluded from accessing formal credit, insurance, or savings products. Second, those who do are often subjected to exploitative practices, as seen in the surge of unethical digital loan apps. Many of these lenders resort to invasive methods—accessing phone contacts and location data—because they lack credible, verifiable financial data on their users.

While Nigerian startups like Mono, Okra, and OnePipe are laying the groundwork for open APIs and financial connectivity, they cannot scale or standardise the sector alone. These players must navigate complex negotiations, inconsistent data formats, and overlapping regulatory directives from the CBN, NIBSS, NDIC, and NCC. The absence of a coordinated national framework leads to inefficiencies, duplications, and lost opportunities. The lack of universal digital identity integration compounds the problem. The Bank Verification Number (BVN) and National Identification Number (NIN) systems are yet to be fully harmonised, creating multiple points of friction for users and service providers alike. This is unsustainable.

For fintechs to reach scale and sustainability, they must operate in an environment where data is structured, shareable and secure. This environment can only be created through coordinated public-private action.
Nigeria must recognise data infrastructure as critical national infrastructure. Just as we build roads to connect cities, we must build data rails to connect services. In the next few paragraphs, I recommend four practical steps to address this problem head-on.

Firstly, we need to accelerate the implementation of Open Finance. The CBN should move beyond guidelines and enforce a clear timeline for adoption with standardised APIs, data schemes and access protocols. The framework must extend beyond banks and include telcos, fintechs, edtechs, utility companies and any platforms that hold financially-relevant user data.

Secondly, creating a consent-based data sharing infrastructure helps to build trust, which is key in this context. Users must be empowered to grant, monitor and revoke access to their data. We can take a cue from other countries e.g. the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) in India.

Thirdly, it is high time we prioritised the harmonization of all the different IDs we hold. For instance, information from the BVN, NIN and TIN can be collapsed into one, and we have a single verifiable and portable identity – this will be the cornerstone of digital finance.

Lastly, a national data utility system should be established. The government can collaborate with industry stakeholders to explore the creation of a neutral data exchange layer – generated by strong privacy rules and technical standards. This utility could manage consents, standardise formats and enable safe interoperability between systems and institutions.

The alternative to doing nothing is stagnation. Fintechs will be constrained by poor visibility into user behaviour. Credit access will remain low, robo-advisors and wealthtechs will struggle to model and recommend the right investments for users, identity duplication and fraud will persist. Even worse, the vacuum will be filled by international players who have the infrastructural capabilities.

To the regulators and MDAs – CBN, NCC, NIBSS, NITDA and the Ministry of Communications, this is your moment to lay the foundation for the next decade of fintech growth. Prioritise interoperability, enforce standards, and convene industry stakeholders around a shared roadmap.

To founders and investors, the time for siloed innovation is over. It is in the collective interest of the industry to co-create standards, share insights and push for reforms. Your platforms can only thrive if the system thrives.

About the Author: Muideen Abubakar is a Data expert focused on data-driven investing. He has worked across asset management and fintech in Nigeria and the UK, and writes on the intersection of technology, finance and policy.