10 Best Payment Gateways in Nigeria

18 Sep 2025

About Payment Gateways in Nigeria (~200 words) Payment gateways are services that allow merchants (businesses) to accept online payments ? through cards (Visa, Mastercard, Verve), bank transfers, USSD, mobile money, USSD, virtual accounts, wallets etc. In Nigeria, the ecosystem has matured significantly in recent years due to increased e-commerce, government push for cashless transactions, regulatory improvements, and growing fintech investment. Some of the important factors for good gateways in Nigeria: Licensing and regulation: Gateways must often be licensed or approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or other regulatory bodies (e.g payment service provider status). This increases trust and ensures compliance. Fees & transparency: Different gateways charge for local vs international transactions, per transaction fees, fixed flat fees, caps, etc. For example, Paystack charges ~1.5% + NGN 100 (local cards, capped) and higher for international card payments. MakeMoney.ng +3 Paystack +3 support2.paystack.com +3 Payment channels: USSD, bank transfers, mobile money, cards, QR, virtual accounts are important given diverse customer payment preferences. The more channels supported, the better reach for merchants. Integration & developer support: Gateways with well-documented APIs, SDKs, webhooks, etc., are preferred. They allow e-commerce businesses, apps, startups to integrate payments smoothly. Settlement times & currency support: How quickly merchants receive payment (particularly in local currency vs foreign currency), and whether cross-border payments are supported, matter a lot for cash flow. Reliability & security: Gateways need to adhere to PCI-DSS or equivalent, have fraud prevention, good uptime, customer support. The competition among gateways (e.g. Paystack vs Flutterwave vs Interswitch) has pushed improvements in fees, UX, features. But challenges remain: currency volatility, foreign exchange issues, regulatory changes, payment failures, margins for small merchants can get thin. For any business in Nigeria considering a gateway, it's essential to compare fees (especially the hidden or capped ones), channel availability (does your target customer prefer bank vs card vs USSD?), reliability & support, and whether the gateway integrates with your platform or site.