Nigeria’s electronic payment transactions value rose to N234.4 trillion in the first quarter this year, indicating that more Nigerians and businesses are exploring the opportunities availed by technologies to conduct their operations.
The latest data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) on e-transaction trends in the economy reflected that the Instant Payment (NIP) value represented 89% increase over the N123.9 trillion recorded in Q1 2023.
According to the NIBSS, from January to March this year, there is a steady rise in the amount of e-payment transactions through banks and fintechs’ electronic channels in the country.
For instance, the data showed that while the NIP transaction value rose to N72.1 trillion in January from N71.9 trillion recorded in December 2023, the value of electronic payments increased further to N79.3 million in February. By March, the value of electronic transactions had surged to N83 trillion.
The NIBSS also reported that e-payment volume also steadily increased in the quarter under review, with the monthly data indicating that transactions volume rose to 887.58 million in January.
In February, the volume of transactions increased to 905 million, while a total of 986.6 million transactions were recorded in March.
Analysts believe that the rising e-payment transactions may not be unconnected to the recent policy measures by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to promote cashless transactions by setting limits on cash that can be withdrawn daily from banks and other financial institutions.
According to the apex bank’s revised cashless policy introduced on January 9, 2023, cash withdrawal by an individual is limited to N500,000 a week, while corporate organizations have N5 million weekly cash withdrawal limit.
The NIP is an account-number-based, online real-time inter-bank payment solution developed by the NIBSS in 2011 to ensure a fully-integrated and secured payment system in the country.
