Government orders deregulation of the airtime credit market to curb capital flight

Federal Government Orders FCCPC to Liberalise Airtime Credit Market, Ending Optasia’s 12‑Year Monopoly

Potential Unlock of Over N3 Trillion in Annual Revenues

James Emejo in Abuja

The federal government has endorsed regulatory changes to open Nigeria’s airtime credit and data advance market to local fintech companies, aiming to curb capital flight.

President Bola Tinubu reportedly approved actions to dismantle the 12‑year dominance of South African firm Optasia in the market.

THISDAY reports that the decision followed extensive consultations between the Presidency and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC). The FCCPC argued that the existing market structure stifled competition, limited local participation, and facilitated significant profit repatriation abroad.

Sources familiar with the matter said the FCCPC persuaded the Presidency that opening the market would align with the administration’s broader economic agenda: promoting local content, strengthening the digital economy, creating jobs, and retaining more value within Nigeria’s financial system.

The commission claimed Optasia’s model had fueled capital flight for over a decade, allegedly repatriating about N3 trillion annually in profits to South Africa while paying minimal tax locally.

Optasia, formerly Channel VAS, has operated almost exclusively in the airtime credit and data advance segment for about 12 years, primarily serving MTN and some African affiliates.

The FCCPC highlighted concerns about the company’s operational structure, noting that despite its extensive activities, it maintains a limited local presence and contributes little to Nigeria’s technology ecosystem.

Regulating consumer safety and competition, the FCCPC maintained that deregulation would encourage competition and support the government’s Nigeria First Technology Policy.

The commission’s position is that opening the market will stimulate innovation, create opportunities for Nigerian firms, generate employment, and reduce the outflow of resources that have continued to leave the country under the current arrangement.

“The Commission’s argument is that deregulating the sector will promote competition, the Nigeria First Technology Policy, employment for Nigerians and discourage capital flight to South Africa as hitherto perpetrated by Optasia,” a source within the FCCPC disclosed.

The deregulation drive also aligns with the administration’s broader objective of deepening indigenous participation in the fintech sector and reducing foreign‑exchange outflows linked to technology services.

Optasia reportedly resisted the deregulation through legal and diplomatic channels. While an interim injunction restraining the FCCPC is already in court, sources confirm the firm also deployed a diplomatic push, using a foreign president to reach out to Tinubu to preserve the deal.

However, the diplomatic efforts failed.

Before Optasia’s intervention, the FCCPC briefed Tinubu on the economic impact of the monopoly.

The Presidency accepted the commission’s “economic‑sense argument” that Nigerian fintechs have the capacity and technical know‑how to provide the same services.

“To strengthen credit data infrastructure and promote competition, FCCPC forwarded a list of nine licensed Nigerian companies to the Presidency to upend Optasia’s grip,” it further learned.