According to the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) Nigerians spent N56.85 trillion in electronic transactions in 2018. Even more, this is just between January and September. Does this go to say that Nigerians are spending big?
When compared to the 2017 figures, Nigerians spent N16.4 trillion more. In 2017, Nigeria recorded N40.45 trillion within the same period.
The volume of ATM transactions rose from N560.86 million in 2017, to N650.06 million in 2018. For POS transactions, the value rose by about N635 billion. POS channels soared from 98.73M transactions worth N975 billion in 2017 to 196.83M transactions worth N1.61 trillion in 2018.
Mobile money transactions also surged within the same period. It went from N795.18 billion in 2017, to N1.22 trillion as at September 2018. Likewise, web payment channels experienced a considerable increase, rising from N129.24 billion in 2017 to N183.07 billion in 2018.
On the other hand, the value of transactions on e-bill payments declined. E-bill allows customers to pay utility bills such as power, cable and so on online. It went from N420.73 billion in 2017 to N370 billion in 2018.
E-payments transactions continue to rise as Nigeria pursues a more versatile cashless economy. However, important questions are yet to be answered about how to make these payment systems readily available to small businesses in local areas.
