The Legal Regulation of Fintech in Nigeria: Balancing Innovation and Consumer Protection

Nigeria's financial technology sector has experienced dramatic growth, positioning the country as Africa's leading fintech market by transaction volume and venture capital investment. The Central Bank of Nigeria, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission have each developed regulatory frameworks applicable to different segments of the fintech ecosystem, creating a complex and potentially inconsistent multi-regulator environment. This research provides an analytical assessment of the legal regulation of fintech in Nigeria, examining the adequacy of the CBN Regulatory Framework for Mobile Money Services, the SEC Digital Assets Rules, and the NDPA 2023 as they apply to payments, digital lending, investment technology, and blockchain-based services. An empirical and doctrinal mixed-methods methodology was employed, combining textual regulatory analysis with structured interviews conducted with fintech founders, CBN licensing officers, and consumer protection advocates in Lagos. Secondary sources include comparative fintech regulation studies from Kenya, the UK, and Singapore, and financial regulation academic literature from 2020 to 2024. The study develops an original analytical model for assessing regulatory coherence in multi-regulator fintech environments. Findings reveal significant regulatory gaps in digital lending consumer protection, inconsistent application of AML obligations across fintech categories, and inadequate regulatory sandboxing provisions. The research contributes original analytical insights and recommends an integrated fintech regulation Act to consolidate and harmonise the current framework. Keywords: fintech regulation, CBN, consumer protection, digital assets, financial innovation.