Inside the rise of global accounts among everyday Nigerians

In the early months of 2023, Victor Olulewa sat in the heat of an Ibadan afternoon, laptop open, his browser blinking at a payment he couldn’t touch. He had just wrapped a content creation project for a ticketing company abroad—a job that should have ended with a quiet sense of accomplishment. 

Instead, it ended in annoyance. The client had paid via a platform familiar to many Nigerians, but getting it into his bank account felt like running after the wind. Between brutal exchange rates and withdrawal fees that seemed to mock his labour, the money would shrink before ever reaching his coffers.

He considered routing it to a colleague’s domiciliary account, but found out the process was equally tedious and offered no protection against potential issues. 

“That was the last time I let anyone send me money through a method I couldn’t control,” Oluelewa said, recounting his loss. “Now, I make sure every client pays into my foreign account, no excuses.”

As Nigeria’s currency crisis deepens and inflation accelerates past 30%, the highest since mid-1996, more internet users turn to dollars, Pounds, and Euro-denominated accounts. Often bundled with virtual cards that enable international payments, they help a generation of creators sidestep a volatile economy and limited banking infrastructure. 

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“People want to preserve their money and wealth from losing value due to inflation and the devaluation of the naira and other local currencies,” says Victor Alade, co-founder and CEO of Raenest, a fintech helping African freelancers and businesses manage cross-border payments. 

“Many also earn from international clients, so keeping money in foreign currencies helps them avoid extra costs and delays. It’s about staying financially secure and making the most of global opportunities.”

Take Joseph Gbadamosi, a direct-response marketer, who, after landing his first gig with a foreign firm, quickly discovered that getting paid could be just as difficult as doing the work.

“When I got my first US gig, I was worried about how I would get paid,” Gbadamosi recalls. “Luckily, the company had a platform they used to send money to their workers across the world. But it was temporary comfort as my next client did not have this in place.”

In search of a solution, he turned to Geegpay, a fintech platform tailored to cross-border payments.

“It has been a downright amazing tool. It helps me get my payments easily and transfer to my bank account immediately,” he says.

Nigeria’s foreign exchange troubles aren’t new, but the pandemic-era oil crash and subsequent macroeconomic missteps exacerbated them.

Oil exports account for roughly 90% of Nigeria’s foreign currency earnings. But since 2020, the country’s oil output has fallen due to pipeline vandalism, underinvestment, and theft. Meanwhile, the government’s insistence on a fixed exchange rate — one often far below the market rate — created a yawning gap between official and parallel market prices.

This divergence forced the CBN to ration its dollars, prioritising sectors like aviation and pharmaceuticals. For ordinary Nigerians trying to pay $12 for a digital service, the dollars are almost beyond reach.

By mid-2022, Nigeria’s foreign reserves had fallen from $40 billion to around $37 billion. Meanwhile, the black market rate soared, reaching over ₦850 to the dollar, nearly double the official rate at the time. Today, the naira trades at over ₦1,500 to the dollar on the street.

The fallout of a dollar-starved system

Years of poor policy decisions, oil dependency, and FX rationing have squeezed Nigeria’s economy to a breaking point. To stem capital flight, the CBN began tightening dollar supply to commercial banks in 2021, culminating in an outright halt in sales to bureau de change operators. Local banks, in response, slashed foreign spending limits on naira debit cards—first from $500 to $100 per month, then to $20—before many eventually blocked such transactions entirely.

This left scores of Nigerians unable to pay for services like AWS, Adobe Creative Cloud, or even Spotify. Virtual learning platforms, developer tools, and international e-commerce sites became inaccessible overnight.

Many resorted to virtual cards offered by fintech startups, platforms which issued USD or GBP cards that can be funded with naira but spent internationally. Some go further, offering fully-fledged foreign bank accounts underpinned by banking-as-a-service providers in Europe or the U.S.

“For a lot of us, having a dollar account is not about luxury—it’s about survival,” said Olulewa. “I pay for my hosting, my writing tools, and even groceries sometimes using those virtual cards. Without them, I’d be out of work.”

These services come at a premium: exchange rates on fintech platforms are often a bit higher than the official rate. But the demand persists, and, in many cases, the cost is simply considered the price of access.

For Olulewa and thousands like him, global accounts do more than receive payments; they form the building blocks of a parallel financial system. They keep tabs with USD or EUR wallets to shield their income from naira depreciation. The naira, in question, has haemorrhaged over 71% of its value since June 2023, when the FX reforms were enacted; these accounts have become non-formal hedges against inflation.

Some workers even split their income across multiple platforms to reduce exposure to platform outages or fraud—using one virtual card for streaming services, another for work tools, and yet another for international shopping.

But these systems come with complications. In 2022, a breach at Union54—a Zambia-based card issuer used by multiple African fintechs—led to an industry-wide freeze on virtual dollar cards, trapping users’ funds in limbo.

The problem is, these services are built atop other services, which are built on even more of the same. When one link fails, everything collapses. That’s the risk some are willing to take just to stay connected to the global economy.

As fintechs patch the holes in infrastructure, Alade emphasises that trust isn’t just a value-add, but also core to product design, from clear communication and transparent pricing, to the user interface and full regulatory compliance with KYC and AML standards. “It is earned through consistency,” he said, “by reliably delivering on promises around speed, security, and overall experience”.

Fintechs race to plug gaps but at a cost

Fintechs are stepping onto the turf to meet the demand, but building reliable cross-border infrastructure remains a many-way street. Platforms have raced to onboard global partners, secure international banking licences, and improve compliance with KYC and anti-fraud protocols.

Some fintechs like Raenest have introduced multi-currency wallets that allow users to hold balances in dollars, euros, or pounds, and swap between them at market rates. Others are exploring global account numbers for specific use cases: receiving international salaries, cashing out freelance payments, or saving for international tuition.

Read also: With 500,000 freelancers and remote workers using its platform, Raenest is profitable and ready to take over Africa

To power their virtual accounts and cards, they rely on third-party banking-as-a-service providers in regions with robust financial infrastructure, typically Europe or the US. A single point of failure, like a BIN (bank identification number) suspension, can knock out card services for weeks. As a result, they diversify partners, while others experiment with stablecoins and blockchain rails.

What began as a workaround for tech workers is now becoming a mainstream strategy for middle-class Nigerians. As inflation outpaces interest rates and household savings erode, many are turning to global accounts to store value and transact. These tools are now being promoted not just by freelancers, but by small business owners, students preparing for study abroad, and even older professionals seeking a financial lifeline outside the naira.

As the use grows, so do questions about its long-term viability and what role regulators might play. On his part, Alade believes the shift could be both tactical and enduring.

“It’s a bit of both,” he said. “Right now, holding foreign currency helps people manage risk. But as the naira stabilises and reforms take root, the focus may shift to seamless, flexible currency conversion.”

To make that transition smoother, Alade adds, policymakers will need to step up. “Setting clear rules for digital wallets, improving access to official FX markets, and simplifying tax policies can help people use these tools safely, while also keeping the system stable.”

The proliferation also raises macroeconomic concerns. As more citizens dollarize their income and savings, the central bank’s control over monetary policy weakens. But for now, the exodus continues, not with passports and visas, but mobile apps and foreign IBANs.