Formal credit access in Nigeria has nearly doubled to 10 per cent, reflecting a growing shift towards formal financial services, particularly among women business owners and farmers, according to the 2026 Access to Financial Services in Nigeria Survey by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access.
The survey showed that formal financial inclusion has risen to 73 per cent, representing an estimated 87.2 million adults across the country.
The 2026 A2F Survey, conducted by EFInA in partnership with the National Bureau of Statistics, covered all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, based on more than 18,600 interviews conducted between April and June 2026.
The findings showed significant gains among women, with formal financial inclusion among women business owners increasing from 67.5 per cent to 76.3 per cent.
Among women farmers, formal inclusion also rose from 42.7 per cent to 53.6 per cent, indicating wider access to formal financial services among groups that have traditionally faced barriers to finance.
Fintech company Moniepoint said the findings reinforced the case for cash flow-based lending, which assesses borrowers based on the performance and movement of money through their businesses rather than relying primarily on conventional collateral.
The company said such lending models could help expand formal credit access among underserved entrepreneurs, particularly women operating in trade and agriculture.
Moniepoint noted that the rise in formal credit represented a wider shift in Nigeria’s financial inclusion landscape, but said further expansion would be required to meet the country’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy target of 40 per cent formal credit penetration.
The survey also identified trust as a major factor influencing Nigerians’ use of financial services.
It found that 96.9 per cent of adults who trusted their financial service providers had carried out a financial transaction within the previous 90 days, compared with 65.6 per cent among those who did not trust their providers.
This represented a 31.3 percentage-point difference, underscoring the role of trust in sustained engagement with formal financial services.
Moniepoint’s co-founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, Tosin Eniolorunda, said expanding access would have limited impact if consumers did not trust the institutions providing financial services.
He said trust had remained central to Moniepoint’s approach and claimed that 83 per cent of its users reported an improvement in their quality of life, while 85 per cent said they had greater confidence in achieving their financial goals.
Eniolorunda said the figures demonstrated the importance of combining access with reliable financial services that enable people to manage their finances and build more stable economic lives.
Delivering a goodwill message on behalf of Moniepoint at the launch of the survey, the company’s Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Edidiong Uwemakpan, described the A2F Survey as an important benchmark for measuring financial inclusion in Nigeria and across Africa.
She said the findings should encourage financial technology companies, commercial banks and policymakers to focus not only on expanding access but also on designing financial products around the needs of underserved Nigerians.
Uwemakpan said the survey data would help guide Moniepoint’s next phase of inclusive lending, with particular attention to entrepreneurs and women operating in trade and agriculture.
She added that the company would continue working with EFInA and financial sector regulators to turn the survey findings into solutions that expand access to credit and other formal financial services.
The A2F Survey has been used as a benchmark for tracking financial inclusion in Nigeria since 2008. Its 2026 edition provides data on how Nigerians save, borrow, make payments, and manage financial risks
