About 61% of Nigerian adults are living under severe liquidity distress, a new national survey has found, even as more people gain access to formal financial services.

The 2026 Access to Financial Services in Nigeria (A2F) Survey, released by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) on Wednesday, September 17, in Abuja, showed that expanding financial inclusion had not yet translated into stronger financial outcomes for most Nigerians.

How Nigerians are coping with financial shocks

Among adults who suffered a financial shock, 71.6% turned to fragile or erosive coping methods, while only 13.8% used protective or adaptive responses.

EFInA Chief Executive Officer Foyinsolami Akinjayeju said 51.2% of farmers experienced a financial shock, with 52.2% of those exposed to shocks relying on erosive coping methods and 76% left with residual distress.

How Nigerians are coping with financial shocks Among adults who suffered a financial shock, 71.6% turned to fragile or erosive coping methods, while only 13.8% used protective or adaptive responses.

EFInA Chief Executive Officer Foyinsolami Akinjayeju said 51.2% of farmers experienced a financial shock, with 52.2% of those exposed to shocks relying on erosive coping methods and 76% left with residual distress.

Financial exclusion dropped to 21% nationally, but the burden fell heavily on the poorest Nigerians. About 53% of adults in the lowest wealth bracket remained financially excluded, com-pared with just 1% among the wealthiest.

Nearly half of all excluded adults were in the poorest 20% of the population.

The survey also found that geography alone did not account for the gap, noting that exclusion sat at 16% among middle-wealth Nigerians in both rural and urban settings. Formal inclusion among women business owners rose to 76.3% from 67.5%, and inclusion among women farmers climbed to 53.6% from 42.7%.

Digital finance grows but credit lags Mobile money usage more than tripled to 38% in 2026, up from 12% in 2023, while overall digital financial usage rose to 64% from about 47%. Formal savings increased to 53% from 38%.

Despite these gains, formal credit held at 10%, insurance at 5%, and pension participation at roughly 9%.

EFInA said:

"The findings point to a financial system that is helping Nigerians move and store money more effectively than it is helping them finance livelihoods or transfer risk."

Former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi used the occasion to warn against undoing economic reforms, saying that policy reversals had repeatedly forced Nigeria to restart its reform cycle.

He said:

"I think one of the sad things about the country is how easy it is to take 10 steps forward and then take 30 steps back."