Association of Corporate Communication and Marketing Professionals in Banks has urged Nigerian banks to accelerate the adoption of digital payment channels, particularly QR code payments, to further strengthen the country’s financial technology ecosystem.
The appeal was made during a courtesy visit by the association to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System in Lagos, where both organisations discussed the resilience of the nation’s payment infrastructure, industry-wide collaboration, and effective communication during service disruptions.
In a statement issued on Sunday, ACAMB stressed the need for stronger coordination across the banking industry to ensure accurate, timely, and consistent public communication, especially during periods of system downtime.
Leading the delegation, ACAMB President Jide Sipe said the association is committed to fostering a platform that enables banks to collaborate more effectively on key industry developments, emerging challenges, and shared priorities.
“We want to make sure there is a space where banks engage, share ideas, and ask relevant questions about how to grow the industry as well as manage its challenges,” Sipe said.
Sipe said ACAMB has been engaging key stakeholders across the financial services industry, including the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, to explore opportunities for stronger collaboration and more effective communication.
He noted that recent system downtime incidents underscored the need for accurate and coordinated industry communication, proposing a stakeholders’ conference that would bring together heads of corporate communications from banks and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System to enhance engagement and crisis communication.
Responding, NIBSS Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Premier Oiwoh, said a reliable and resilient digital payment infrastructure is essential to advancing financial inclusion, driving innovation, and supporting Nigeria’s economic growth.
“That is why one of the key ingredients that shape our philosophy at NIBSS is our commitment to financial inclusion. Seamless and effective payment has always been at the core of what we do, and one key path to achieving this is ensuring a payment system that works. This will, in return, optimise revenue security, better customer experiences, and faster time-to-market, which in turn facilitates economic growth,” Oiwoh said.
He said NIBSS safeguards the stability and reliability of Nigeria’s digital payment ecosystem by continuously monitoring transaction volumes and patterns to detect potential system failures early, while redistributing processing loads across multiple environments to minimise the risk of service disruptions and downtime.
“As we all know, customers expect payments to be fast, accurate, and flexible,” he said.
Oiwoh described the NIBSS Instant Payment platform as a landmark innovation in Nigeria’s digital payments ecosystem, noting that it was launched about 15 years ago and remains one of the world’s earliest account-based instant payment systems.
He said the achievement has been strengthened by the National Payment Stack, which is designed to improve transaction efficiency, facilitate real-time and cross-border payments, and expand financial inclusion.
According to him, the National Payment Stack provides secure and reliable payment infrastructure that enables instant transactions, supports cross-border transfers, and broadens access to digital financial services across Nigeria and the wider African continent.
Oiwoh said the NIBSS payment infrastructure compares favourably with leading global platforms, including India’s Unified Payments Interface, citing its strong performance, reliability, and operational efficiency in processing digital transactions.
