In the quiet village of Temidire, nestled within the Ibarapa East Local Government Area of Oyo State, mobile phones are little more than decorative objects.
The only network signal, when it shows up, is at the mercy of the wind, flickering weakly due to the long distance from the nearest base station.
For residents, making a call or receiving a text requires patience, luck, and often a trip to higher ground.
But it is not just the locals feeling the pinch. Every week, buyers from across Oyo State flock to Temidire’s bustling market to purchase fresh farm produce.
Yet despite the steady stream of visitors, one thing remains elusive: mobile connectivity. Even city dwellers, used to the ease of instant transfers and mobile payments, are forced to carry cash, as network service in the area is either non-existent or frustratingly erratic, depending on one’s provider.
For 35-year-old Alabi Oduwole, a farmer and resident of the village, his bedroom remains his bank because he could not afford traveling for about 25 kilometers to the nearest town that has two commercial bank branches just to deposit money and having to embark on the same journey when he needs the money.
“If I can receive and send money on my phone, I will be glad. But for now, that is not possible. Only the Airtel network works here, and the service is not stable,” he lamented.
Temidire’s situation is a reflection of a wider challenge facing many rural communities in Nigeria, where the rise of mobile banking and digital finance has not yet reached the people who need it most.
Mobile money booms, but only in cities
Despite the unsavoury experience of rural dwellers, mobile money is booming in Nigeria, albeit only in urban areas.
According to data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS), mobile money operators in the country processed transactions valued at N71.5 trillion in 2024.
This represents a 53.4% increase in transactions across the mobile money platforms when compared with the N46.6 trillion recorded in the full year 2023.
- The volume of transactions across the fintech platforms also increased by 23%, jumping from 3 billion in 2023 to 3.9 billion in 2024, according to NIBSS data.
- PalmPay, one of the leading mobile money operators in the country, recently announced a significant leap in its daily transaction volume as it crossed the 15 million mark in Q1 2025.
- The CEO of Paga, Tayo Oviosu, also recently declared that while it took the mobile money company 91 months to process its first 1.5 trillion Naira (Jan 2012 – July 2019), Paga processed more than 1.5 trillion Naira in May 2025 alone.
Ironically, while Nigeria continues to celebrate the rapid growth of fintech and the shift toward a cashless economy, places like Temidire are left behind.
Financial inclusion gap
According to data from the EFiNA Access to Finance (A2F) 2023 report, 48% of adult Nigerians lack a transactional or financial account and are being excluded from the modern digital financial system.
“The ownership and use of banking services skews heavily towards the top of the wealth distribution; in the more developed districts and urban areas, as well as towards males, those with better educational achievements, and the middle-aged contributing further to inequalities across and within these categories,” EFiNA stated in the report.
The report also noted that there were over 28 million Nigerians who have the National Identification Number (NIN) but do not have financial accounts.
Rural connectivity challenge
A major factor behind this exclusion is poor network coverage. According to a recent report by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Nigeria and other African digital revolutions are being led by young, urban populations, while older adults and rural dwellers are being left behind.
- The urban-rural divide is especially stark with Internet usage in cities reaching 57% in 2024, compared to just 23% in rural areas – the widest gap among all ITU regions.
- This divide is compounded by unequal infrastructure investment. While 4G and 5G rollouts prioritise urban areas, rural regions remain stuck with older and slower networks.
- The latest data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows that as of April 2025, 39.67% of connectivity in the country were still on 2G, and these are mostly in rural areas.
- The ITU emphasised the need for targeted policies and infrastructure investment to close this digital gap.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of PalmPay, Mr. Chika Nwosu, said the company has also realised the challenges posed by the connectivity gap, hence, it recently launched Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to allow people in 2G areas to carry out financial transactions.
“We are aware of this challenge, and that was why we recently rolled out USSD so that people in areas without 3G or 4G service can carry out financial transactions,” he told Nairametrics.
USSD plays a significant role in increasing financial inclusion, especially in rural areas where a number of people may not be using smartphones and traditional banking infrastructure may be limited. But it becomes more difficult for dwellers when the available service is also unstable as in Temidire.
Bridging the digital divide
Aside from the issue of network coverage, a tech expert and Founder of Sigmanox NG, Ahmed Ogundimu, said low literacy levels and skepticism about digital financial services are among factors hindering mobile money penetration in rural areas in Nigeria.
To resolve these challenges, Ogundimu advocates for more investment in network infrastructure across rural communities. According to him, mobile money providers in the country would also need to expand their rural agent networks and offer more localised and user-friendly services.
In addition, he advised operators to consider the necessity of advertising mobile money products in the local languages of the different communities they intended to operate in.
“Government and non-governmental initiatives aimed at promoting financial literacy and digital inclusion should be organised to contribute to the gradual penetration of mobile money services in these regions.
“The Nigerian government can also play a key role in expanding financial inclusion in rural areas by providing incentives to financial institutions to establish and operate branches in rural areas,” Ogundimu said.
- For the Executive in Residence at the Lagos Business School, Mr. Olu Akanmu, to bridge the gap in Nigeria, the government needs to integrate financial inclusion into economic inclusion programs such as agriculture and MSME trade.
- He added that financial services providers will also have to increase their agents’ presence, especially in rural areas, to provide last-mile access.
- Akanmu also emphasized improved network coverage and availability of affordable phones as critical factors in deepening access to financial services in rural areas.
Will current government initiatives address the challenge?
The Nigerian government has in recent times rolled out various initiatives to bridge the connectivity gap.
These include Projects BRIDGE and 774, Universal Access Project, the National Broadband Alliance for Nigeria (NBAN), Construction of 7000 and 1000 telecom towers, strengthening subsea cable systems, Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), among others.
- Project BRIDGE aimed to expand Nigeria’s fibre optic network by 90,000 km to improve broadband penetration across the country. The project is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2025, supported by significant funding from the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
- Project 774 focused on ensuring that every local government secretariat in Nigeria benefits from high-speed connectivity, aiming to enhance digital access at the grassroots level.
- FG’s universal access project is aimed at connecting over 20 million Nigerians who currently lack access to digital services. This project involves building 7,000 telecom towers in unserved and underserved areas. This will be implemented under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) funding model.
The Secretary of USPF, Yomi Arowosafe, revealed plans to build an additional 1000 BTS in rural communities. He said USPF is expected to complete deployment by 2030 in collaboration with development partners.
To ensure that larger hinterland populations get connectivity, Arowosafe said USPF will explore available options for partnerships and collaborations with OEM manufacturers to support the usage of end-user devices in rural, unserved, and underserved communities through affordable mobile devices.
Industry analysts noted that while these initiatives are commendable and critical to addressing the connectivity challenges in the country, their impacts would be dependent on how the government manages the implementation.
This report is produced under the DPI Africa Journalism Fellowship Programme of the Media Foundation for West Africa and Co-Develop.
