Improved efforts at collaboration among financial service providers, telecommunication operators, and tech startups, with conscious effort geared at consumer awareness, have been proffered as key remedies to the challenge of financial inclusion in the country.

This is the viewpoint of stakeholders that gathered for the second edition of Payment Forum Nigeria (PAFON 2.0) held in Lagos. Delivering a keynote address on the theme: “Bridging the Customer Experience Gap for Financial Inclusion Using AI,” the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of AfriGoPay Financial Services Limited, Mrs. Ebehijie Momoh, said that with 64 per cent of Nigerian adults being financially included the country has made immense progress in that regards.

She said that between 2012 and to date, the country has recorded robust regulatory reforms, especially the launch of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) in 2014, making it easier to identify and track customers across different banks.

“This initiative enhanced the credibility of the financial sector and increased confidence in formal banking systems.

“The growth in adoption of smartphones has also helped the financial sector to leapfrog financial inclusion. Nigeria has 142.16 mobile internet subscriptions with an average consumption of ~7.04GB /month as of January 2025. If you juxtapose it to the 15.9 per cent decline in shipments of feature phones to 18.8 million units in Africa as at Q1 2024, you will understand that the uptake in smartphones has helped us a great deal,” she stated.

Momoh, who spoke through the Head of Innovation and Strategic Partnership at AfriGoPay, Munachi Duru, said the adoption of artificial intelligence banking gave birth to solutions like Smile Identity, a KYC verification provider that launched facial recognition capabilities in Nigeria, as neobanks and commercial banks are deploying AI-based KYC verification tools, enabling cheaper and efficient customer acquisition and servicing.

In her goodwill message, MD/CEO, Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities Limited (SANEF) Limited, Mrs. Uche Uzoebo, said that with the progress made in accelerating financial inclusion to unbanked and underbanked communities in Nigeria, SANEF has leveraged Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the next step to advancement in financial services in the country. She noted that as technology evolves rapidly within the financial ecosystem, Financial Inclusion must continue to be at the centre of the nation’s progress.

Speaking during a panel session, the Chairman, the Lagos State Chapter of the Association of Mobile Money & Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN), Ibirogba Oluwagunwa, spoke of a lack of collaboration and slow institutional drive towards AI as key barriers hindering digital inclusion.

He harped on the need for information sharing among fintech operators and improved the free flow of information to consumers. “The human barrier angle needs to be addressed. Fintechs need to be pushed to move forward, AI cannot operate itself.”