The value of e-payment transactions in Nigeria surged significantly in 2023, with the country recording a staggering 66% growth, totaling an impressive N664.2 trillion.
The Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) disclosed that this reflects an increase in electronic payments, driven by cash scarcity.
Following the same trend, the volume of electronic payment transactions increased by 240 percent to 17.34 billion from 5.1 billion in 2022. NIBSS also reported that the highest volume of transactions valued at N1.76 billion was recorded in December reflecting increased spending due to the festive season.
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On the other hand, the lowest volume was recorded in March with N978.7 million transactions. Furthermore, the highest value of transactions, N79 trillion, was recorded in December 2023 while the lowest was recorded in February 2022 with N40.9 trillion transactions.
BusinessDay analysis of the data revealed that electronic payment channels were used 11.05
billion times in 2023, a 75.96 percent increase from the 6.28 billion times they were used in
2022.
Also, the NIBSS revealed that the total value of instant payment in 2023 was N600.36tn, and PoS was N1O.7tn. Instant payment channels, including mobile, recorded a usage volume of 9.67 billion, and PoS terminals recorded 1.38 billion.
The NIBSS wrote,
“Financial inclusion continues to grow, even as formal financial inclusion grew from 56 percent (2020) to 64 percent (2023). Nigeria is just 1.0 percent point away from achieving the 2022 Nigerian Financial Inclusion Strategy, NFIS, recommended targets for 2024 and must now pay equal attention to deepening the quality and impact of inclusion.”
While the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is already gaining traction with many Nigerians embracing the use of the various e-payment channels for transactions, more growth is anticipated.
The CBN believes that the revised cashless policy, which is further limiting the amount of cash that can be withdrawn by individuals and corporate organizations will further drive a surge in electronic transactions across the country.
It is worth noting that the Apex Bank has a plan to reduce cash payments by 2025 and expects mobile payments to become a more prominent feature. According to the CBN, the Nigerian payment landscape has many options that have displaced cash in recent times, including electronic bill payment, mobile phone top-up, and mobile and instant payments.
As the bank implements the PSV 2025 agenda, it has disclosed that it will continue to ensure that the Nigerian payments system is widely utilized domestically, supports the government’s financial inclusion objectives, and meets international standards while contributing to overall national economic growth and development of Nigeria.