PalmPay And AfriGo Partner to Drive Contactless Payment Adoption in Nigeria

PalmPay, one of Nigeria’s leading fintech companies with over 35 million users, has partnered with AfriGo, the national domestic card scheme, to introduce five million contactless payment cards and tap-to-pay solutions across the country. This initiative aligns with Nigeria’s growing push towards contactless transactions and follows a similar partnership between Moniepoint and AfriGo.

The announcement comes just a week after PalmPay partnered with CashAfrica, a contactless payment infrastructure provider, to roll out tap-to-pay functionality on its POS terminals. The pilot phase will begin with 1,000 devices before a nationwide expansion in March.

The increasing collaborations between fintechs and AfriGo indicate a strong commitment to accelerating contactless payment adoption in Nigeria. For AfriGo, these partnerships mark a strategic move to capture an untapped segment of the market—digital transactions through contactless payments.

“We are excited to partner with PalmPay to revolutionize financial services and expand access to digital payments across Nigeria. Through this collaboration, AfriGo and PalmPay will provide enhanced access to digital payments—particularly in underserved areas—drive financial inclusion, and support the rapidly growing digital economy in Nigeria,” said Ebehijie Momoh, Managing Director/CEO of Afrigopay Financial Services Limited (AFSL).

While AfriGo competes with Visa, Mastercard, and local rival Verve in the broader digital payments space, contactless payments present an opportunity for the domestic card scheme to establish a stronger foothold. Industry experts suggest that these partnerships could help address one of the major barriers to contactless adoption—merchant acceptance. With leading fintechs now issuing contactless cards, more businesses may be encouraged to adopt contactless-enabled terminals.

“One of the biggest challenges for contactless payment adoption in Africa has been the lack of authorization with cards,” noted Malik Asamu, CEO of CashAfrica. “I believe the recent partnerships will accelerate the rollout of contactless payments and explore in-depth ways Nigerians can authorize each transaction before completion. Nigerian data shows that customers prefer to authorize every transaction, even down to the kobo.”

While mobile wallets and QR codes have seen increased adoption, Nigeria has yet to experience widespread use of contactless card payments—unlike markets in Europe and China, where tap-to-pay is dominant. However, with two of Nigeria’s top three fintechs, PalmPay and Moniepoint, now issuing contactless cards, the country could see its first major wave of tap-to-pay transactions.

This transition is likely to be card-driven rather than mobile-led, as many Nigerians still lack NFC-enabled smartphones required for mobile-based contactless payments.

As Nigeria moves towards mass adoption of contactless payments, the competition for market share is heating up. If the current momentum continues, fintechs could finally drive the shift from PIN-based transactions to tap-and-go payments at scale.