Nigeria has surpassed the 70 per cent financial inclusion target under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, but millions of adults remain financially vulnerable despite increased access to formal financial services.
The 2026 Access to Financial Services in Nigeria (A2F) Survey, conducted by Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA) and weighted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), found that formal financial inclusion rose to 73 per cent in 2026.
However, only 30.7 per cent of formally included adults were classified as financially healthy, leaving approximately 60.4 million adults financially vulnerable or merely coping.
Financial Inclusion Rises To 79%
The survey showed that overall financial inclusion, covering both formal and informal access, increased to 79 per cent in 2026, from 74 per cent in 2023 and 68 per cent in 2020.
Formal financial inclusion rose from 64 per cent in 2023 to 73 per cent in 2026, representing approximately 87.2 million adults.
Overall financial inclusion now covers about 94.2 million adults.
Digital financial services recorded significant growth, rising from 45 per cent in 2023 to 64.4 per cent in 2026, equivalent to roughly 77 million adults.
However, the survey identified a substantial gap between access and financial wellbeing.
Only about 25 per cent of Nigerian adults overall were classified as financially healthy, compared with 73 per cent who were formally included.
The report described the resulting 48-percentage-point difference as an “access-health gap.”
Access To Credit Rises As Coping Loans Increase
Formal credit use increased to about 10 per cent of Nigerian adults, equivalent to 11.9 million people, compared with six per cent in 2023.
The figure, however, remains below the 40 per cent NFIS target cited in the survey.
The composition of formal borrowing also changed significantly.
Borrowing for coping and consumption became the largest reported purpose for formal credit, rising from 31.7 per cent in 2023 to 40.8 per cent in 2026.
By comparison, productive enterprise borrowing fell from 40.2 per cent to 34.3 per cent, while household-asset borrowing declined from 25.2 per cent to 23.4 per cent.
The shift represents a reversal from 2023, when productive borrowing exceeded coping and consumption borrowing by 8.5 percentage points.
By 2026, coping and consumption borrowing exceeded productive enterprise borrowing by 6.5 percentage points.
Repayment Stress Remains High
The survey found that 45.8 per cent of formal-credit users reported some or serious repayment stress, while 83.8 per cent experienced ongoing financial stress.
Formal credit use among informally employed Nigerians increased from five per cent to 15 per cent.
Among adults aged 18 to 35, formal credit usage doubled from four per cent to 10 per cent.
The findings indicate that the expansion of access to credit has not necessarily translated into greater financial resilience.
Insurance, Pension Coverage Remain Low
Insurance and pension participation continued to lag behind banking, payments and other formal financial services.
Formal insurance penetration stood at 5.2 per cent, representing approximately 6.2 million adults, while pension participation covered about nine per cent of adults.
The survey found that approximately 93 per cent of formally included adults, or about 81 million people, remained uninsured.
Among insured adults, 59.9 per cent were classified as financially healthy.
Rural Areas Still Lag Behind
The gains in financial inclusion were uneven across regions, gender and location.
The urban-rural gap in formal financial inclusion widened from 24 percentage points to 27 percentage points.
Formal inclusion reached 85 per cent among urban adults, compared with 58 per cent in rural areas.
The South-West recorded formal inclusion of 96.4 per cent, while the figure stood at 61.4 per cent in the North-East and 62.7 per cent in the North-West.
Digital financial services were used by 78 per cent of urban adults compared with 47 per cent of rural adults.
Usage also stood at 70.5 per cent among men and 58 per cent among women.
Trust Remains Key To Financial Service Usage
The survey also identified trust as an important factor influencing continued use of formal financial services.
It found that 96.9 per cent of consumers who trusted their financial service provider had used the provider within the previous 90 days.
This compared with 65.6 per cent among consumers who distrusted their provider.
The report identified fraud control, service reliability, transparent pricing, data protection and effective complaint resolution as important factors in achieving meaningful and sustained financial inclusion.
Challenge Shifts From Access To Financial Resilience
The survey indicates that Nigeria has made greater progress in bringing adults into formal accounts, payments and digital financial services than in providing products that strengthen long-term financial security.
The report therefore points to a growing challenge: translating increased access into financial health, resilience and productive economic participation.
The survey itself does not attribute the increase in coping and consumption borrowing to specific factors such as inflation, food prices, rent, school fees or medical expenses.
Additional market reporting cited in the material points to a difficult consumer-credit environment, including a decline in consumer credit and increased borrowing costs.
The broader implication is that expanding access to financial services alone may not be sufficient if households and businesses continue to face limited financial buffers.
