Apple Pay has returned to Nigeria with a renewed focus on in-person payments, four years after its initial entry through Paystack’s online checkout. Nomba, the Nigerian fintech formerly known as Kudi, announced on December 23, 2025, that it has enabled Apple Pay across its platform, extending tap-to-pay functionality to over 300,000 physical merchant locations.
Unlike Paystack’s 2021 rollout, which focused on enabling Apple Pay for e-commerce transactions, Nomba’s integration brings the service directly to in person retail. Merchants using Nomba terminals can now accept Apple Pay from iPhones and Apple Watches, shifting the technology from browser-based checkout to point-of-sale transactions on the ground.
Timing the Diaspora Spend Cycle
The launch coincides with Nigeria’s peak “Detty December” season, when diaspora Nigerians and international visitors return home in large numbers. Many of these travellers rely on foreign-issued cards and contactless payment methods but frequently encounter high failure rates when using local POS terminals.
By enabling Apple Pay, Nomba removes a key friction point. Payments can now be completed by tapping a device on a compatible terminal, with authentication handled through Face ID or Touch ID. For visitors, this restores a familiar payment experience across restaurants, hotels and retail outlets in cities such as Lagos and Abuja.
Merchant Acceptance Without Consumer Issuance
Despite the expanded acceptance footprint, Apple Pay’s Nigerian presence remains limited to the merchant side of the market. Local consumers are still unable to add naira-denominated Mastercard or Visa cards to Apple Wallet, largely due to regulatory constraints and Apple’s lack of direct support for domestic card tokenisation.
As a result, the integration primarily enables Nigerian businesses to accept inbound payments rather than offering a new daily payment option for local users. Apple Pay functions as a tool for capturing international spend, not as a replacement for domestic payment rails.
Settlement Realities and FX Constraints
The broader economic impact will depend on unresolved structural issues, particularly around settlement currency. While Nomba processes Apple Pay transactions successfully, most merchants still receive settlement in naira, often at official exchange rates.
This limits the benefit for small businesses seeking foreign currency exposure, especially at a time when the Central Bank of Nigeria has tightened liquidity and imposed weekly cash withdrawal caps of ₦500,000 for individuals. In practice, the value of Apple Pay lies more in transaction reliability than in access to hard currency.
Even with these limitations, the move reflects strategic repositioning by Nomba. By enabling global wallet acceptance at scale, the company is moving beyond peer-to-peer transfers and basic merchant payments toward becoming an infrastructure layer for Nigeria’s internationally facing economy.
As competitors such as Moniepoint and OPay assess the rollout, the longer-term question is whether Apple Pay can evolve from a convenience for tourists into a dependable payment rail for Nigerian SMEs engaged in cross border trade. For now, the integration shows a clear step in that direction even if its full impact remains constrained by regulation and currency controls.
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