The chief executive of Nigerian fintech Moniepoint has called on the country’s central bank to design its forthcoming national payment system to facilitate easier access to credit for individuals and businesses. Tosin Eniolorunda made the case for a "credit layering" framework on the new infrastructure during a panel discussion at the 2026 Nigeria Information Technology and Communication Summit in Abuja, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) advances its plans for the Payment System Vision (PSV) 2028.

Eniolorunda argued that the PSV 2028 framework should be built to allow financial service providers to seamlessly offer credit products on top of the core payment rails. "We need to make it easier for people to borrow money," he said, according to reports from the summit. He suggested that the system should enable lenders to assess creditworthiness using transaction data generated within the payment ecosystem, potentially unlocking capital for a broader segment of the population.

The PSV 2028 is the CBN's strategic blueprint for the evolution of Nigeria's payment landscape over the next two years. It aims to modernise infrastructure, enhance interoperability, and drive financial inclusion in Africa's most populous nation. The call from a leading fintech executive highlights the industry's desire to shape the regulatory architecture to support more complex financial services beyond basic transactions.

Moniepoint, which began as a business payments platform, has expanded into personal banking and operates one of Nigeria's largest merchant payment networks. Its push for integrated credit services aligns with a broader trend among African fintechs seeking to leverage proprietary payment data to underwrite loans, a model pioneered by companies like Safaricom's M-Pesa in Kenya with its Fuliza overdraft service.

The proposal comes at a time when Nigeria's payment infrastructure is undergoing significant stress tests and upgrades. The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), which operates the national switch, reported processing a record N1.4 quadrillion in transactions in 2025, underscoring the immense scale and critical nature of the ecosystem it secures. In a recent interview, NIBSS Managing Director Premier Oiwoh emphasised the organisation's focus on defending the system against fraud and outages, noting that "every second of downtime has a massive multiplier effect on the economy."

Industry observers note that integrating credit assessment tools into a national payment vision would require robust data protection frameworks and clear guidelines on data sharing between banks, fintechs, and switching companies. It also raises questions about consumer protection and the risk of over-indebtedness if not carefully implemented. The CBN has not publicly commented on the specific proposal for credit layering within PSV 2028.

As the 2028 deadline approaches, stakeholders across Nigeria's financial sector are keenly watching how the central bank will balance innovation, stability, and inclusion in its final framework. The integration of advanced services like credit could define the next phase of digital finance in a country where formal lending has traditionally been inaccessible to millions of small business owners and individuals.