Nigeria has surpassed its formal financial inclusion target, but millions of adults remain financially vulnerable despite gaining access to formal financial services.
Formal financial inclusion rose to 73 per cent in 2026, exceeding the 70 per cent target set under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.
However, only 30.7 per cent of formally included adults are financially healthy, leaving approximately 60.4 million either financially vulnerable or merely coping.
The figures are contained in the 2026 Access to Financial Services in Nigeria Survey conducted by Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access and weighted by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The survey covered 18,679 adults across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, representing 98 per cent of the targeted 18,950 interviews.
Household listing and data collection were conducted between April and June 2026. Overall financial inclusion, covering both formal and informal channels, increased to 79 per cent from 74 per cent in 2023 and 68 per cent in 2020.
Formal inclusion also increased substantially, reaching approximately 87.2 million adults, compared with 64 per cent in 2023 and 56 per cent in 2020.
The expansion was driven partly by rapid growth in digital financial services, whose usage climbed from 45 per cent in 2023 to 64.4 per cent in 2026.
That translates to roughly 77 million adults using digital financial services.
Despite the broader access, the survey found a significant gap between financial inclusion and financial wellbeing. Only about one-quarter of Nigerian adults were financially healthy, compared with the 73 per cent formally included.
That represents a 48-percentage-point gap between access and financial health. The survey described the danger of expanding financial participation without improving resilience as “participation without progress.”
Financial resilience also remains weak among formally included Nigerians. Only 10.6 per cent of formally included adults could raise N156,000 within seven days without difficulty.
Among adults outside formal financial inclusion, the proportion was only 3.7 per cent. The nature of borrowing also changed significantly as formal credit expanded.
Formal credit usage rose to approximately 10 per cent of adults, representing 11.9 million people. That compares with six per cent recorded in 2023, although the latest figure remains well below the 40 per cent NFIS target.
More importantly, Nigerians are increasingly using formal credit for coping and consumption. Coping and consumption accounted for 40.8 per cent of formal borrowing purposes in 2026. The figure was 31.7 per cent three years earlier.
At the same time, productive enterprise borrowing fell from 40.2 per cent to 34.3 per cent. Household asset borrowing also declined, falling from 25.2 per cent to 23.4 per cent.
The shift marks a major reversal in Nigeria’s borrowing pattern. In 2023, productive enterprise borrowing exceeded coping and consumption by 8.5 percentage points.
By 2026, coping and consumption borrowing had moved ahead by 6.5 percentage points. That represents a swing of approximately 15 percentage points.
The growing reliance on credit for immediate financial needs also coincides with significant repayment pressure. About 45.8 per cent of formal credit users reported some or serious repayment stress.
Meanwhile, 83.8 per cent said they experienced ongoing financial stress. Formal credit use among informally employed Nigerians also increased sharply. It rose from five per cent in 2023 to 15 per cent in 2026.
Among adults aged 18 to 35, formal credit usage doubled from four per cent to 10 per cent. While banking and digital financial services have expanded, insurance and pension coverage remain weak.
