As of March 2025, Nigerian commercial banks had closed approximately 29.4 million accounts, largely due to regulatory enforcement on linking accounts to the National Identity Number (NIN) and general efforts to eliminate questionable accounts. Though this figure marked a slight recovery from February’s 33.29 million closed accounts, it still reflects a significant 30.43% year-on-year rise from March 2024, when 22.54 million accounts were shut down.
The Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) also reported a sharp increase in dormant or inactive bank accounts, which rose by 71.3% year-on-year to 33.39 million in March 2025, up from 19.79 million in March 2024. Bank accounts are labeled inactive if they show no transaction activity — including deposits, withdrawals, or POS use — for a continuous six-month period.
Despite the rise in closures and inactive accounts, the number of active bank accounts saw impressive growth. Active accounts increased by over 100 million year-on-year, reaching 320.05 million in March 2025 from 219.64 million in the same period of 2024 — a 45.7% jump. This indicates that while cleanup efforts continue, more Nigerians are also being brought into the financial system.
These developments follow the Central Bank of Nigeria’s December 2023 directive requiring all commercial banks to restrict tier-1 accounts not linked with a Biometric Verification Number (BVN) and NIN by March 1st, 2024. NIBSS records show BVN enrollment has also risen to 66.23 million as of July 2025, compared to 61.6 million in April 2024, reflecting ongoing compliance with identity verification requirements.
