By Chinwendu Obienyi with agency reports
Nigeria’s financial regulators are pushing for a major shake-up of the nation’s credit reporting regime as concerns mount over the rising tide of unpaid digital loans and loopholes in credit data management.
This is coming after Daily Sun learnt that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in partnership with the Nigeria Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP), is currently reviewing the country’s credit information framework, with plans to approach the National Assembly for legislative amendments.
Chief Executive Officer, CREDICORP, Uzoma Nwagba, disclosed this in an interview with one of the news agencies in the country.
The urgency of the reforms is underscored by a dramatic surge in digital lending platforms operating in the country. As of May 2025, no fewer than 425 companies have been registered and licensed to offer digital loans, up from 320 in the previous year.
This includes 362 companies with full approvals from the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), 42 under conditional approval, and 21 licensed directly by the CBN.
While this expansion has widened access to credit, particularly among underserved populations, financial analysts warn it is also fueling a parallel crisis: rising indebtedness and systemic risk.
Nwagba noted that the current credit reporting infrastructure, though underpinned by legislation, suffers from fragmented data flows and insufficient enforcement.
“There is a credit reporting act that mandates commercial banks to report all borrowers to the credit bureaus. But the reality is that these reports do not reach all the registries and that creates gaps that borrowers exploit,” he said.
He added that the proposed reforms will aim to centralize and streamline credit data sharing while introducing behavioral accountability measures. These, he said, may include credit checks as a prerequisite for passport renewal or housing rental agreements, steps that he argued, would significantly promote credit discipline among Nigerians.
Also, Senior financial analyst with Lagos-based firm Skylight Capital, Ayodele Falana, stressed that the country’s consumer credit market has expanded too fast without a robust system for managing credit risk.
Falana said, “What we are seeing is an ecosystem where borrowers take out loans from multiple platforms, sometimes simultaneously, and without consequence for defaults. This is clearly unsustainable.”
Advocating for a single, unified credit registry accessible to all lenders, regulated financial institutions, and even landlords or service providers, financial analysts argue that this would enable real-time credit status checks and disincentivize serial defaults.
Supported CREDICORP’s proposal to link certain civic services with credit status, an analyst who did not want his name in paper while speaking to Daily Sun, said, “We need to move towards a credit culture where your financial behavior has social consequences. That is how mature credit systems work.”
While the exact contents of the proposed executive bill remain under wraps, sources close to the matter indicate that the legislation will likely expand the powers of credit bureaus, standardize data collection and sharing protocols, and impose penalties for non-compliance by financial institutions.
In the interim, the CBN is expected to issue new guidelines mandating stricter reporting standards and encouraging more collaboration among the three main credit bureaus operating in Nigeria.
As Nigeria pushes toward a more inclusive and cashless economy, the role of consumer credit will only become more central.
However, without a credible and enforceable credit reporting system, the current growth in the lending space could backfire, leading to widespread defaults and loss of investor confidence.