by Jameelah Mullen
January 29, 2026
The transfer sparked blended reactions throughout the Nigerian group.
PayPal is returning to Nigeria for the primary time in additional than 20 years.
By means of its PayPal World Initiative, the corporate has allotted $100 million to work with Nigerian fintech firms, enabling customers to conduct native and worldwide transactions.
The Nigerian launch, completed in partnership with fintech agency Paga, allows customers to hyperlink their PayPal accounts to Paga wallets, giving Paga customers entry to PayPal’s community. The partnership helps PayPal’s technique to amass or collaborate with Nigerian fintech startups and progressively acquire market dominance over the following three to 5 years, Enterprise Insider Africa studies.
Paga CEO Tayo Oviosu introduced the partnership in a LinkedIn publish, revealing that he first approached the monetary large a couple of collaboration in 2013. Oviosu famous that PayPal initially declined his proposal, suggesting that Nigerian fintech firms had been nonetheless comparatively new at the moment. However he saved communication open with PayPal.
“Partnerships like this don’t occur in a single day. They’re the results of years of conversations, trust-building, regulatory work, and displaying up constantly. I’m happy with the Paga workforce for staying the course. I’m grateful to the PayPal workforce for believing within the long-term imaginative and prescient. And I’m enthusiastic about what this unlocks for Nigerians taking part within the international digital financial system,” Oviosu wrote.
PayPal suspended its providers in Nigeria in 2004, blocking customers from receiving funds as a consequence of a excessive fraud threat. The corporate reported a surge in stolen bank cards from North America and Europe, allegedly used from Nigerian IP addresses. PayPal additionally cited points with the nation’s identification verification course of.
Though the partnership with Paga will present wider entry to digital cash transfers in Nigeria, some stay cautious. The transfer might threaten rivals and smaller fintech firms within the nation. Shoppers took to social media to specific their issues.
PayPal locked Nigerians out of the worldwide digital financial system for 21 years. No receiving funds. No withdrawals. Simply ‘send-only’ standing whereas our freelancers and companies struggled. Now that we’ve constructed a billion greenback fintech ecosystem with out them, they need again in. The…
— MrBanks💰 (@Mrbankstips) January 27, 2026
“PayPal locked Nigerians out of the worldwide digital financial system for 21 years. No receiving funds. No withdrawals. Simply ‘send-only’ standing whereas our freelancers and companies struggled. Now that we’ve constructed a billion-dollar fintech ecosystem with out them, they need again in. The audacity, X person, Mrbanks wrote.
PayPal’s share value has declined, together with a 37.7% drop over the previous yr and a 75.6% decline over 5 years. The decline is primarily pushed by intensifying competitors within the Western market, significantly within the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
RELATED CONTENT: ‘Minding Our Personal Enterprise—’ A Highlight On Diaspora Enterprise and Tradition: Lu Smith
