Nigerian banks closed 29.4 million accounts by March 2025 as efforts to sanitise the financial system intensified amid rising dormant accounts and regulatory pressure.
New figures from the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) show the number of closed accounts remains high, though slightly lower than the record 33.29 million recorded in February.
The March 2025 figure also marks a sharp year-on-year rise, up 30.43 percent from 22.54 million accounts shut in March 2024.
Alongside the closures, the number of dormant accounts has also surged, climbing to 33.39 million from 19.79 million in the same period last year. That’s a 71.3 percent increase in inactive bank accounts within just 12 months.
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A dormant account is one that sees no deposits, withdrawals, transfers, or point-of-sale activity for six months.
While banks clean up their books, they also report a growing number of active accounts. NIBSS said active accounts rose from 219.64 million in March 2024 to 320.05 million in March 2025, an increase of over 100 million, or 45.7 percent.
The mass closures and dormancy spike follow the Central Bank of Nigeria’s December 2023 order for all commercial banks to restrict tier‑1 accounts not linked to a Biometric Verification Number (BVN) and National Identity Number (NIN) by March 1, 2024.
NIBSS data shows BVN enrolment rose from 61.6 million in April 2024 to 66.23 million by July 2025, as more Nigerians rushed to comply with the CBN directive.