The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), has revealed that the number of active bank accounts in Nigeria rose to 231.1 million in July 2024.
Previous NIBSS data showed that active bank accounts in the country stood at 202.6 million at the end of 2023.
This means that a total of 28.5 million accounts have been activated between January and July this year.
According to the World Bank, access to a transaction account is the first step toward broader financial inclusion since it allows people to store, send, and receive money.
However, while the NIBSS data are based on reports from banks, millions of Nigerians are financially included through fintech accounts.
According to NIBSS, the number of inactive or dormant bank accounts in the country stood at 18.9 million. This shows a slight increase in the number of abandoned accounts in the seven months as the figure stood at 18.06 million at the end of 2023.
Meanwhile, the number of active bank accounts in the country as of July shows that there is still a very wide gap between the number of accounts and the number of Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), which is now a compulsory requirement for opening an account.