PalmPay MD identifies trust and fraud as hurdles for Nigeria’s digital payments

Keypoints

• Chika Nwosu, Managing Director of PalmPay, highlighted trust deficits and fraud as the primary barriers to Nigeria’s digital payment adoption.
• Speaking at the Payments Forum Nigeria (PAFON 3.0) in Lagos on Friday, April 24, 2026, he noted that transaction failure rates have improved significantly from over 10% pre-2019 levels.
• Nwosu advocated for “embedded finance”—integrating payment systems directly into everyday social and business platforms—to deepen financial inclusion.
• He emphasized that security should be a baseline standard, involving collaboration between fintechs, regulators like the CBN, and telecom operators.
• Mobile technology and physical agent networks were identified as essential “human intermediaries” to bridge the gap for informal operators and rural communities.

Main Story

The “trust gap” in Nigeria’s financial technology sector is proving harder to bridge than the infrastructure gap.

At the third edition of the Payments Forum Nigeria (PAFON 3.0) held at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos, PalmPay MD Chika Nwosu delivered a candid assessment of the ecosystem.

While digital payments have technically matured, evidenced by PalmPay’s own growth to over 35 million users—public skepticism remains high due to fears of sophisticated fraud and the trauma of past transaction failures.

Nwosu’s vision for the “post-acquisition” phase of Nigerian fintech centers on reliability and invisibility. He argued that the future of the industry is not in standalone apps, but in embedded finance, where payments happen seamlessly within the apps people already use for trade, work, and communication.

By focusing on “Fair Digital Payments,” the forum’s central theme, Nwosu called for an industry-wide commitment to regulatory compliance and security investment that prioritizes long-term consumer confidence over short-term market share.

The Issues

The primary challenge is the trust-security paradox; while digital platforms are now faster, the rise in sophisticated cyber-fraud has kept many Nigerians, particularly in the informal sector, from fully committing their funds to electronic wallets. Authorities must solve the problem of transaction-resolution friction, as Nwosu noted that strict due process must be followed in fraud cases even when consumers demand immediate refunds.

Also, there is an integration-infrastructure risk; for financial inclusion to reach the World Bank’s target levels, the industry must ensure that digital systems are backed by a reliable “human interface” through agent networks. To succeed, the ecosystem must move beyond product differentiation and focus on system reliability and interoperability between fintechs, traditional banks, and telecom providers.

What’s Being Said

• “The major challenge facing the sector today is trust. Digital payment is still relatively new, and people worry about the safety of funds,” stated Chika Nwosu.
• Nwosu noted that before 2019, transaction failure rates exceeded 10 per cent, a figure that significantly eroded public confidence in the early stages of the digital shift.

What’s Next

• Fintech operators are expected to increase collaborative security investments with the CBN and NCC to create a unified front against digital fraud.
• PalmPay and other leading platforms will likely accelerate the expansion of their agent networks to reach underserved rural areas where digital-only solutions are insufficient.
• The industry is anticipated to see a shift toward embedded payment APIs, with more social media and e-commerce platforms integrating Nigerian payment rails directly.
• Following the forum, stakeholders are expected to push for standardized fraud resolution protocols to ensure that “due process” does not lead to excessive delays for innocent customers.

Bottom Line

For Nigeria’s digital economy to move from 35 million users to full national inclusion, the industry must transition from “growth at all costs” to “trust at all costs.” Chika Nwosu’s message at PAFON 3.0 is a reminder that while technology provides the rails, it is the consumer’s feeling of safety that ultimately provides the fuel for the digital payment engine.

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