Nigeria’s financial regulators and payments infrastructure providers have reported a significant decline in electronic payment fraud, while urging stronger collaboration to maintain the momentum and support broader digital inclusion.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) made the call at the 2026 Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) Technical Kick-Off Session held in Lagos on Wednesday.
Speaking in a keynote address, the CBN Deputy Governor for Financial System Stability, Mr Philip Ikeazor, said cooperation under the NeFF framework since 2011 had strengthened the safety and resilience of the payments system. Represented by Mr Ibrahim Hassan, Ikeazor said fraud losses had reduced even as digital transactions expanded rapidly.
He highlighted achievements such as the adoption of EMV chip-and-PIN technology, two-factor authentication, improved transaction monitoring, centralised fraud reporting and the linking of BVN with NIN.
Ikeazor warned that new risks, including social engineering attacks, SIM-swap abuse and Authorised Push Payment scams, demanded quicker and more proactive responses. He said the industry aimed to cut fraud response times to less than 30 minutes through enterprise-wide fraud management systems and shared intelligence.
Also speaking, NIBSS Managing Director and CEO, Mr Premier Oiwoh, said electronic payment fraud losses declined markedly in 2025 as a result of coordinated actions by regulators, security agencies and industry operators.
According to Oiwoh, the improvement came despite increasing transaction volumes. However, he noted that internet banking and e-commerce remained the most vulnerable channels, with insider-assisted fraud and social engineering posing growing threats.
He stressed that effective Know-Your-Customer and Know-Your-Device processes, supported by real-time NIN and BVN validation, were essential to reducing fraud. He added that a central “Persons of Interest” database and stricter reporting requirements had enhanced detection and prevention.
Chairman of NeFF and Director of the CBN’s Payments System Supervision Department, Dr Rakiya Yusuf, urged continued coordinated action across the industry, warning that emerging threats required standardised frameworks, faster responses and advanced analytics.
She expressed confidence that the forum’s discussions would further strengthen trust and security in Nigeria’s digital financial ecosystem.
