POS, Cashless Transactions Hit N210 Trillion In Seven Months

According to the data obtained from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, NIBSS, cashless transactions in Nigeria have risen by 40.66 per cent year-on-year to N210.08 trillion in the first seven months of 2022.

From January to July 2022, a total amount of N210.08 trillion was processed on the Nigeria Instant Payment System (NIP) and Point of Sales terminals (PoS), which explain how cashless transactions are monitored on the NIBSS.

This is N60.73 trillion more than the N149.36 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.

During the period under review, NIP transactions rose to N205.48 trillion, compared to N145.79 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.

Also, PoS transactions increased by N1.05 trillion, from N3.56 trillion in the first seven months of 2022 to N4.61 trillion in the corresponding period of 2021.

The data from the NIBSS also suggested increased usage of electronic payment gateways as the NIP and PoS terminals were used 1 billion more times from January to July 2022 than they were used in the corresponding period of 2021.

The two payment terminals were used 3.41 billion times in the period under review and 2.40 billion times in the corresponding period of 2021.

However, this is according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s plan to change the nation’s economy from cash-based to electronic-based.

In its ‘Why The Central Bank of Nigeria made the Cash-less Policy,’ document, the CBN disclosed, “Our economy uses too much cash for transactions for goods and services, especially for buying and selling.

“This is not how it is done in other progressive countries of the world where there are other payment options like; debit and credit cards, bank transfers, bank direct debits, Automated Teller Machines, and even mobile phone money.

“These achievements have been brought about by the changing needs of their people, competition among banks, and other companies, including changes in technology. Our major focus is to increase the volume of all available payment instruments in Nigeria.”

The National President, Association of Mobile Money Agents in Nigeria, Victor Olojo, noted, “COVID contributed to the growth of electronic payment

"It taught us many ways of doing things differently. For things we thought needed a second party to carry out, COVID has shown us that we can do them by ourselves. COVID helped the adoption of this channel. Many people would rather before now go to the bank to make some payments, but these days, people use e-channels.”