Mobile money transactions in Nigeria hit an all-time high on January, according to data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement.
A total of 108.135 million transfers were made in January, representing a 237% increase when compared to the 32 million recorded during the same period in the previous year. Similarly, the value of mobile transactions rose by 124.8% to N2.4 trillion from N1.1 trillion in the period under review.
The figure is compared to 32.7 million recorded in the same month last year. The value of transactions also increased by 118.2% from N1.1 trillion in January 2022 to N2.4 trillion in January 2023.
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The NIBSS data also revealed that Point of Sales transactions in Nigeria jumped to N807.16 billion in January 2023, a 40.69% year-on-year increase compared to the N573.72 billion reported in January 2022. By volume, PoS transactions in January 2023 amounted to 96.4 million, a 6.9% increase from what was recorded in 2022 at 90.1 million.
Also, Africa’s largest economy rose by 55 percent on a year-on-year basis to 541.64 million, in contrast to 348.4 million transactions registered in January 2022.
The increase in mobile transactions is attributed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) deadline for the collection of old naira notes, along with the redesign of higher denominations of the currency (200, 500, 1,000).
The CBN had earlier introduced a new policy on cash-based transactions which stipulates a cash handling charge on daily cash withdrawals that exceed N500,000 for individuals and N3,000,000 for corporate bodies.
The new policy on cash-based transactions in banks according to the CBN is aimed at reducing physical cash circulating the economy and encouraging more electronic-based transactions.
According to the CBN, the new cash policy was introduced for three (3) major reasons which include;
1.) To drive the development and modernization of its payment system in line with Nigeria’s vision 2020 goal of being among the top 20 economies by the year 2020.
2.) To reduce the cost of banking services (including the cost of credit) and drive financial inclusion by providing more efficient transaction options and greater reach.
3.) To improve the effectiveness of monetary policy in managing inflation and driving economic growth.
Meanwhile, following the CBN’s New cash policy that has spurred a lot of Nigerians to resort to mobile transactions, the citizens have been faced with incessant network issues which have amounted to so many failed transactions.
A lot of citizens did not hesitate to call out various banks in the country for lacking the capacity to handle mobile transactions since the enforcement of redesigned naira policy by the CBN.
Unconfirmed reports reveal that after a Banker’s committee meeting, CEOs of various Banks in Nigeria stated that the frustrating online transactions and network failures in their member banks were not caused by internal but external glitches.
Despite claims by the Nigerian banks that they have invested over N100 billion in setting up and maintaining cutting-edge electronic channels over the past few years as part of an ongoing commitment to seamless customer experience and real-time digital financial transactions, telecom operators in Nigeria still feel these banks do not have the capacity for full-blown digital banking.