OPay Says it Hit 45M Users and 1M Merchants in Nigeria

In Short

• OPay says it has crossed 45 million users in Nigeria.
• The fintech also says it now supports more than 1 million merchants and businesses nationwide.
• The update points to growing use of digital payments and agent banking across the country.

What Happened

OPay says it has surpassed 45 million users and expanded its merchant network to more than 1 million businesses across Nigeria. The company said the milestone reflects rising demand for digital financial services, including payments and agency banking.

Agency banking is a model where local agents, often small shops or kiosks, act as mini bank points. They help people do cash-in and cash-out, transfers, and bill payments without visiting a bank branch.

A larger merchant network matters because it increases the places where customers can pay, withdraw, or deposit money. It also helps the company push deeper into smaller cities and rural areas where banking access is limited.

For merchants, more payment acceptance points can mean more sales and faster settlement (getting paid into an account). For users, it can mean shorter travel time and fewer queues for basic transactions.

Why It Matters

Nigeria’s fintech market is crowded, but scale is still a major advantage. More users and more merchants can lower the cost of serving each customer and improve transaction volumes, which is the total value and count of payments processed.

It also shows how much everyday commerce is moving to digital rails, meaning money moves through apps, bank transfers, cards, and POS terminals instead of cash. As networks grow, reliability and fraud controls become bigger operational challenges, especially for agent and POS-heavy models.

For businesses that want to accept or manage OPay payments, products like OPay Business are part of the broader shift toward merchant tools, reconciliation, and payment collection in Nigeria.

OPay launched operations in Nigeria in 2018. Its latest numbers, if sustained, keep it among the largest consumer-facing financial apps in the country by distribution and merchant reach.