Making change: Premier Oiwoh

Premier Oiwoh rarely carries cash. In fact, he tells The CEO Magazine that he cannot remember the last time he even visited a bank to make a withdrawal. Yet he knows this experience remains far from universal across Nigeria. For millions of Nigerians, cash remains the simplest – and sometimes the only – way to pay.

The Managing Director and CEO of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) is focused on closing that divide. But he knows it will take far more than simply introducing new technology. A job this large requires building a foundation that makes digital payments cheaper, simpler and more accessible to every citizen.

"What do I define as success?" he asks. "I define success based on the number of people I’m able to reach and the reduction of disputes around the payment ecosystem."

It’s a mission that places NIBSS at the center of Nigeria’s financial development. Established in 1993 and owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the country’s licensed banks, the organization provides the infrastructure underpinning interbank payments, transfers and settlements, as well as Know Your Customer processes through the Bank Verification Number (BVN) system and point-of-sale payments.

A call to serve

Since taking the helm in 2019, Oiwoh has sought to strengthen that foundation while preparing NIBSS for its next phase of growth.

When he arrived, he brought 25 years of banking expertise spanning operations and technology – but for Oiwoh, the role was as much a personal mission as a professional one.

"I saw it as a call to national service," he recalls. "Joining was an opportunity to use the skills God had given me to create value not just for the banking industry, but for my fellow citizens and Nigeria as a whole."

This strong sense of purpose has guided an extensive transformation within the organization. Under his leadership, NIBSS now operates around the clock, supported by employees capable of working remotely from anywhere in the world.

Its internal operations have also become entirely paperless, with workflows and digital applications replacing physical documentation. And technology previously supplied by external vendors has been increasingly brought in-house.

The NIBSS Universal Switch, for example, was developed internally to improve the speed, accuracy and stability of point-of-sale processing while reducing costs.

"Over 33 years, we’ve built an extraordinary knowledge base that continues to fuel innovation," Oiwoh explains. "This has enabled us to build most of our platforms ourselves internally to lower costs."

Innovation at scale

Among the most significant developments is the National Payment Stack, a locally-built platform designed to replace the NIBSS Instant Payment system that has served the country for 15 years.

Co-created with the government, the Central Bank of Nigeria, banks, and fintechs; the platform incorporates international messaging standards alongside features developed specifically for Nigeria’s financial ecosystem. It also includes cross-border capabilities intended to make integration with other African and global markets easier.

NIBSS has simultaneously established new subsidiaries, including the entity behind AfriGO, Nigeria’s sovereign domestic card scheme. AfriGO allows merchants to receive immediate value from point-of-sale transactions, removing delays typically associated with card settlements.

"Ultimately, we are competing with cash," Oiwoh points out. "And the best way to encourage people to move away from cash is to give them instant value."

NIBSS has applied the same thinking to account-based, QR code payments, instant transfers and transaction notifications. The volume of instant payment transactions processed in a single day has risen from fewer than one million in 2019 to a peak of 42 million.

Its innovation also reaches Nigerians living abroad via its Non-Resident Bank Verification Number portal.

"For the first time, any Nigerian anywhere in the world can go to that portal, provide the necessary documentation and get issued a digital BVN, allowing them to open a bank account in any of the banks in Nigeria remotely as permitted by the Central Bank of Nigeria," he says.

Expanding financial access

For Oiwoh, digital infrastructure is not an end in itself but a means of unlocking broader financial participation. NIBSS’ shared-services model reflects that vision.

"Our focus has always been on reducing the costs of doing business for our connecting entities," he says.

"Today more than 1,000 entities rely on our platform. So when we realized that the microfinance banks were having issues in terms of applications they were using and the cost, we launched the NCube."

The NCube is an automated mobile banking platform for microfinance institutions that connects more than 50 banks and Microfinance banks – including Source Microfinance Bank – to a central core banking system, giving them access to secure, scalable digital banking services through a shared platform.

"Institutions simply connect to the platform and we manage the end-of-day processing and the operational workflows for them," he explains. "Even institutions without dedicated IT teams can operate effectively on the platform."

The results speak for themselves.

"Since we went live over a year ago, we’ve never had any problems with the platform. There’s been no down time," he confirms.

Collaboration without borders

As transactions increase, security and stability remain critical. NIBSS’ AI-driven centralized fraud management platform Hawk monitors activity across the financial ecosystem, detecting unusual patterns and helping participating institutions preemptively respond to fraud.

The company also operates an industry-wide dispute resolution platform where financial disputes can be recorded, monitored and resolved according to established service standards. Meanwhile, its teams monitor connecting entities around the clock to identify operational problems before they affect customers.

Yet Oiwoh insists technology alone cannot deliver the transformation Nigeria needs. NIBSS relies on an extensive network of banks, fintechs, regulators, payment service providers, technology companies and government institutions.

"We work closely with our partners to create value within the ecosystem and the country," he says.

This principle now underpins NIBSS’ continental ambitions. The organization is developing open application programming interfaces, exploring connections with payment systems in other African countries and seeking to improve cross-border interoperability.

It has also revitalized the NIBSS Academy, with a goal of creating a center of excellence for banking, customer service and financial technology education across Africa.

"We’re never content to stand still," he confirms. "We have to keep looking ahead and building the payment rails the future will require."

Indeed, Oiwoh believes the next era of African payments will not be built by any single institution. Instead, it will emerge from organizations combining their expertise to lower costs and create systems that move value seamlessly across borders.

"Regardless of competition, everyone must remain focused on collaboration," he says. "Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration."