Digital Banking Adoption Surges to 78% in Urban Nigeria
A new EFInA survey reveals that smartphone-based banking has overtaken branch visits as the primary channel for financial transactions in Lagos and Abuja.
By Chidi Nwosu, Technology Reporter · · 4 min read
Smartphone banking has crossed a pivotal threshold in Nigeria's largest cities: 78% of banked adults in Lagos and Abuja now conduct their primary financial transactions via mobile apps, overtaking branch visits for the first time in the country's banking history, according to the 2025 EFInA Access to Financial Services survey.
The shift has been dramatic. As recently as 2020, fewer than 35% of urban Nigerians used mobile banking as their main channel. The acceleration has been driven by a combination of factors — widespread smartphone penetration (now at 54% nationally and above 70% in major cities), intense competition among neobanks like Opay, Kuda and Moniepoint, and the enduring popularity of USSD shortcodes that work on basic feature phones.
Traditional banks have not stood still. Access Bank's AccessMore app, GTBank's mobile platform and Zenith Bank's ZiVA virtual assistant each report monthly active user bases exceeding five million. First Bank's *894# USSD service alone processes over 1.2 million transactions daily, demonstrating that legacy institutions remain deeply embedded in everyday financial life.
The rural-urban divide remains stark, however. In the North-East and North-West geopolitical zones, cash transactions still account for more than 70% of economic activity, and only 29% of adults hold a bank account of any kind. The CBN's financial inclusion strategy targets 95% inclusion by 2027, a goal that will require dramatic expansion of agent banking and digital ID infrastructure beyond urban centres.
Industry observers note that the real winners of the digital shift have been payments companies. Interswitch, Flutterwave and Paystack collectively processed over ₦180 trillion in transactions in 2024, a volume that dwarfs what bank branches handled a decade ago. The convergence of banking and payments technology is reshaping the sector's competitive landscape, with new licensing categories — payment service banks and holding company structures — blurring the lines between telecoms, fintechs and traditional commercial banks.