Advancing Digital Financial Inclusion in Nigeria: A Systematic Literature Review of Opportunities, Risks and Digital Trust

Digital financial services have a critical role in the financial inclusion agenda of Nigeria as they provide alternatives to the branch network for remittances, payments, savings, and credit account services through digital channels. The research includes systematic literature reviews of the determinants related to digital financial inclusion development in Nigeria, with the main focus on enabling technologies, adoption barriers, digital trust, and policy, institutional, and technical responses. The review process was based on the PRISMA 2020 principles and an adapted Waterfall workflow. Overall, 503 records were identified, 129 duplicates were taken out, 374 records were screened, 123 full-text articles were determined, and 55 peer-reviewed journals published from the period 2020 to 2026 were used for the descriptive and thematic synthesis. Thirty-seven papers, representing 67.3%, were published between the years of 2022 and 2025. The thematic profile consisted of digital finance, mobile money, and fintech (30.9%); financial inclusion and development (23.6%); adoption and user behaviour (18.2%); trust, risk, and cybersecurity (18.2%); and policy, regulation, and consumer protection (9.1%). Through strong evidence, mobile money, USSD, agent banking, POS networks, digital ID, interoperable payments, fintech wallets, and digital savings and credit were defined as the main channels to financial inclusion. Their merits are undermined by fraud, failed transactions, privacy concerns, weak redress, infrastructure constraints, low financial and digital literacy, and exclusionary design. Digital trust was the found mechanism for the access path to shift into sustained use. Furthermore, it was emphasized that the increase in digital financial inclusion in Nigeria necessitates that innovation is complemented with cybersecurity, consumer protection, resilient infrastructure, inclusive design, literacy, effective redress, and institutional accountability.