Nigeria’s Dormant Bank Accounts Top 33 Million by March 2025 as Trust Gap Widens

1 articles · Updated · Semafor · Aug 3

More than 33 million Nigerian bank accounts were dormant by March 2025, up sharply from under 20 million a year earlier, signaling that gains in financial access are not translating into sustained use.
Aishah Ahmad, a former Central Bank of Nigeria deputy governor, said part of the jump reflects account-linkage rules tied to verified identity numbers, but argued the underlying rise in dormancy still points to weakening customer confidence.
Failed transactions, unresolved complaints, fraud and unclear accountability across banks, fintechs and payment operators are eroding trust, she said, because customers experience the system as one network while responsibility remains fragmented.
Nigeria’s Payments System Vision 2028 already flags trust as a policy priority, and Ahmad argued the next reform phase should focus less on new rails and more on clear accountability for the customer experience across the system.

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With 33 million accounts dormant, is Nigeria's digital finance boom actually masking a massive crisis of consumer trust?

Can faster payment rails save Nigeria's financial inclusion drive if billions are still lost to cyber fraud annually?

Who truly bears the cost when a digital transfer vanishes in the regulatory void between banks and fintechs?

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