Digital payments & rural barriers: Unlocking inclusion for Nigeria’s villages
In the sleepy farming village of Ehor, Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of Edo, 47-year-old Mrs Ebun Aikpokpo sits on a wooden bench beside her grocery stall, holding up a small blue POS device.
The machine’s screen flickers weakly before going dark again.
For the third time in the week, she has been unable to complete a customer’s payment due to a failed internet connection.
“I tell my customers to come back later or bring cash; but these days, most of them do not carry cash anymore; some just go elsewhere,” she said with a weary smile.
More so, Mr Francis Ikharo, a 58-year-old widower and cassava farmer at Ayanran village in Akoko-Edo LGA of Edo, clutches his phone and sighs in frustration.
“I tell my customers to come back later or bring cash; but these days, most of them do not carry cash anymore; some just go elsewhere,” she said with a weary smile.
More so, Mr Francis Ikharo, a 58-year-old widower and cassava farmer at Ayanran village in Akoko-Edo LGA of Edo, clutches his phone and sighs in frustration.
His son had told him that N25,000 was sent to his account under the NG Cares project, but weeks later, he still has not accessed a single naira.
NG Cares is a Federal Government programme, designed to restore the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable, maintaining food security, and facilitating recovery of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
“I went to the bank in Igarra and they told me the network was down; I went again two days later, same thing.
“They said even if I had a smartphone and downloaded the mobile banking app, it would not work here; there is no service,” he said.
This is not peculiar to rural communities in Edo; 38-year-old Patience Ogah also experienced failure in internet connection in Karaworo, a quiet village in Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi.
Ogah has run a small convenience store for nearly a decade.
In 2023, she began accepting digital payments after a mobile banking agent set her up with a Point-of-Sale (POS) device.
For a few weeks, business improved; then, reality struck; poor internet connectivity and frequent power cuts made the device nearly unusable.
“Customers get angry when the machine fails. Some think I am trying to cheat them. Others just walk away,” she bemoaned.
Similarly, in Ago Alaye, Odigbo Local Government Area, Ondo State, POS agent Idowu Ajayi has spent the better part of two years running a mobile banking kiosk that services six surrounding communities.
On a good day, he processes up to 40 transactions; on most days, though, he battles poor signal strength and queues of frustrated customers.
“I have bought two different routers; I even climbed a tree to hang my SIM card where the network is stronger; but when the network fails, there is nothing I can do.
In the sleepy farming village of Ehor, Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of Edo, 47-year-old Mrs Ebun Aikpokpo sits on a wooden bench beside her grocery stall, holding up a small blue POS device.
The machine’s screen flickers weakly before going dark again.
For the third time in the week, she has been unable to complete a customer’s payment due to a failed internet connection.
“I tell my customers to come back later or bring cash; but these days, most of them do not carry cash anymore; some just go elsewhere,” she said with a weary smile.
More so, Mr Francis Ikharo, a 58-year-old widower and cassava farmer at Ayanran village in Akoko-Edo LGA of Edo, clutches his phone and sighs in frustration.
His son had told him that N25,000 was sent to his account under the NG Cares project, but weeks later, he still has not accessed a single naira.
NG Cares is a Federal Government programme, designed to restore the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable, maintaining food security, and facilitating recovery of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
“I went to the bank in Igarra and they told me the network was down; I went again two days later, same thing.
“They said even if I had a smartphone and downloaded the mobile banking app, it would not work here; there is no service,” he said.
This is not peculiar to rural communities in Edo; 38-year-old Patience Ogah also experienced failure in internet connection in Karaworo, a quiet village in Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi.
Ogah has run a small convenience store for nearly a decade.
In 2023, she began accepting digital payments after a mobile banking agent set her up with a Point-of-Sale (POS) device.
For a few weeks, business improved; then, reality struck; poor internet connectivity and frequent power cuts made the device nearly unusable.
“Customers get angry when the machine fails. Some think I am trying to cheat them. Others just walk away,” she bemoaned.
Similarly, in Ago Alaye, Odigbo Local Government Area, Ondo State, POS agent Idowu Ajayi has spent the better part of two years running a mobile banking kiosk that services six surrounding communities.
On a good day, he processes up to 40 transactions; on most days, though, he battles poor signal strength and queues of frustrated customers.
“I have bought two different routers; I even climbed a tree to hang my SIM card where the network is stronger; but when the network fails, there is nothing I can do.
“People just curse and leave,” he laments.
These residents noted that the problem was not limited to individual entrepreneurs; local schools and health centres in the areas struggle with integrating digital payment systems for school fees, hospital bills, or government reimbursements.
Rural teachers and primary healthcare workers often cannot receive salaries through mobile transfers because their bank branches are kilometres away, and mobile networks frequently break down.
These experiences reflect a deeper and growing concern in Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda — the rural-urban digital divide that risks leaving millions behind.
Across Nigeria, the use of digital payments has surged, especially in urban areas.
In Lagos, Abuja, Benin City, Lokoja, Akure and other major cities, USSD, QR code payments, fintech apps, and card transactions are part of daily life.
The cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) further accelerated this trend, pushing people towards contactless transactions and boosting the mobile money sector.
As Nigeria pursues its National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020–2030) as well as the Nigeria National Development Plan (2021–2025), which together aim to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty and expand the digital economy to 25 per cent of GDP by the end of 2025, digital financial inclusion is expected to play a pivotal role.
Interestingly, these digital payment systems are rapidly being adopted in the urban centres, but rural Nigeria, surprisingly, remains disconnected, with low broadband coverage, unreliable electricity, and limited digital literacy undermining access.
Despite the growing digital economy, which contributed an estimated 16 to 18 per cent to the country’s GDP in 2024, millions still remain digitally disconnected.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), more than 50 per cent of Nigerians still lack access to broadband, with the vast majority living in rural areas.
According to the NCC, as of January 2025, Nigeria had 98.8 million broadband subscriptions, representing a penetration rate of 45.61 per cent.
While broadband penetration is growing, it is still below the 70 per cent target set for 2025 by the Nigerian National Broadband Plan.
This digital exclusion, financial analysts said, is not just a missed economic opportunity, it is a national development challenge. They claimed as well that the digital economy’s contribution to GDP could even be higher if the rural communities are not left behind.
Globally, Nigeria is considered one of Africa’s top fintech hubs; yet, the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) in its study, reports that only 29 per cent of Nigerians have ‘regular access’ to reliable mobile internet, leaving out 71 per cent due to major infrastructure and regulatory barriers.
The GSMA notes that the full promise of Nigeria’s Strategic Plan 2023–2027 and the National Broadband Alliance for Nigeria (NBAN) would only be realised when the country creates an enabling policy and regulatory framework that actively includes rural areas.
Acknowledging these facts, Dr Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, in May, unveiled the Federal Government’s plan to invest in 7,000 towers in these underserved communities.
According to him, the focus is to bridge the digital divide and promote inclusive development in the country.
Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, the minister said that the government had directed his ministry to invest 7,000 towers in giving Nigerians access to telecom networks.
“The 7,000 projects would be delivered by the end of 2025 so that an opportunity can be given to Nigerians regardless of where they find themselves.
“There are about 20 million rural dwellers that still have no access to such facilities.
