Electronic Payments Surge To N126.39tn

In six months, Nigeria’s electronic payment transactions rose to N126.39 trillion via the two digital payment platforms.

These platforms are the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Instant Payment System and Point of Sales terminals.

The two digital payment platforms driving electronic payments are the NIBSS Instant Payment System and Point of Sales terminals.

According to the data obtained from NIBSS showed that electronic payment transactions recorded 100.86 percent growth in value when compared to an aggregate of N62.92tn in the corresponding period of 2020.

In the first six months of 2020, the value of NIP transactions was N60.92tn; in the corresponding period of 2021, it grew to N123.38tn.

The value of PoS transactions was N2.00tn for the first six months of 2020. In the corresponding period of 2021, it rose to N3.01tn.

In January the value of NIP transactions was N18.5tn; in February it was N18.3tn. In March the figure rose to N22tn; in April and May it declined to N20.7tn and N20.7tn respectively. However, in June it recovered to its highest recorded value of N23tn.

According to the NIBSS ‘Instant Payments – 2020 Annual Statistics’, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the ePayments landscape, accelerating the adoption of instant payments as more people transitioned to electronic channels for funds exchange in the wake of government imposed lockdowns.

The NIBSS said that mobile remained the preferred channel with 43 percent of total transactions in 2020, while 35 percent of transactions was with USSD, indicating that 78 percent of total transfer transactions was carried out using mobile devices.

Kehinde Ogunyale

Reporting on the data-driven economy, and investigations.

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