Unity Bank Partners AfriGo to Drive Inclusive Digital Payments

L-R: Mr. Wale Ogunride, Zonal Head, Lagos and South West, Unity Bank Plc; Ebehijie Momoh, Managing Director, AfriGo; Mr. Ebenezer Kolawole, Managing Director/CEO, Unity Bank Plc; and Mr. Ugo Obasi, Chief Operating Officer, AfriGo during AfriGo team’s visit to Unity Bank Head office recently.

In the buzzing business district of Lagos on a humid Friday afternoon, the boardroom at Unity Bank’s head office brimmed with a shared sense of purpose. Executives from Unity Bank Plc and AfriGo, Nigeria’s domestic card scheme, gathered not just to discuss numbers or market share—but to chart a path toward a more inclusive digital economy for everyday Nigerians.

At the heart of the high-level strategic meeting was one common goal: to deepen access to electronic payments and promote financial inclusion through the widespread adoption of the AfriGo card.

For Mr. Ebenezer Kolawole, the Managing Director/CEO of Unity Bank, the mission is clear. “We are committed to making the AfriGo Card a primary delivery channel for Unity Bank,” he declared. “As a national domestic card scheme, it deserves to be promoted both internally and externally as a local solution with significant potential to redefine Nigeria’s card payment landscape.”

Kolawole’s words resonate beyond corporate ambition. They speak to the countless small business owners in Nigeria’s informal markets, the rural schoolteacher without access to a bank branch, and the university student trying to pay for a form online.

AfriGo’s Managing Director, Mr. Ebehijie Momoh, echoed that human-centred approach. He commended Unity Bank’s commitment to the domestic card scheme, revealing that the bank currently ranks among the top five adopters of the AfriGo card in the country.

“AfriGo was designed with inclusion in mind,” Momoh said. “We’re building technologies that support instant payments and even offline capabilities, so that no one—no matter where they are—is left out of the financial system.”

The collaboration is more than just a corporate handshake. AfriGo’s Tap & Go solution is already reshaping how Nigerians interact with payments, particularly in transport and retail, where convenience is critical for people constantly on the move.

Beyond this new partnership, Unity Bank has quietly built a track record of digital innovation that centres the needs of the underserved. From launching USSD banking (*7799#) in multiple local languages to rolling out Unifi—a youth-focused digital banking platform—and GenFi, a gamified app for children and teenagers, the bank has made inclusion not just a policy, but a practice.

Each innovation tells a human story: of a market woman who can now transfer money without needing a smartphone, of a teenager learning financial responsibility through a playful interface, and of a family in a remote village now empowered to participate in the digital economy.

As the digital transformation wave continues to sweep across Nigeria, partnerships like this between Unity Bank and AfriGo are helping ensure that no one gets left behind.

In a country where the unbanked and underbanked still make up a significant portion of the population, this is not just good business—it’s a social imperative.

Stay informed, stay ahead with The Ameh News