Nigeria’s payment industry is making a concerted effort to overcome hurdles and accelerate the adoption of contactless payments. A forum organised by financial technology company NetPlusDotCom brought together key stakeholders to tackle this challenge.
The forum, themed “Accelerating Contactless Adoption: A Collaborative Approach to Overcoming Barriers,” highlighted a significant statistic: Nigerian POS devices processed a staggering N11 trillion in transactions in 2023.
However, they agreed that collaboration is needed to address the barrier and popularise the adoption of contactless payments.
Wole Faroun, managing director/founder, NetplusDotCom, said: “The essence of this forum is to bring industry stakeholders together to talk about our payment system and the evolution of contactless payments.
“That’s why you have phone manufacturers that are here. That NFC technology, if you check your phone, it may not even be there. And when you have NFC, it’s a little bit more expensive. So how do we bring down the price, how do we help merchants to be able to afford this, maybe if we split the payment into six instalment payments, it’s easier to afford, things like that are what are going to come out of the forum”, Faroun said.
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He added, “At NetplusDotCom we have been at the forefront of providing SoftPOS for the last two years. This is a technology that converts your mobile phone into a POS device. But we know that there is still a need for adoption and education and there are barriers stalling the adoption of this technology.”
Faroun upheld the body was trying to ensure that it could make these cardholders make payments with their card in a seamless way, in a way that they feel comfortable, and in a way that technology had made it easy for this to happen abroad.
“I’m passing through a supermarket, I pick up my stuff, and all I have to do is tap my card on a device and make payments, and I walk out of the place. What’s there not to adopt, the fact that we have other channels doesn’t stop the card payment channel from being bullish about it”, he enlightened, that’s still significant, and it’s growing, he added. Talking about financial inclusion, Faroun said this was going to help with that as well.
“I think it’s a market we can be bullish about. I’m confident that this is going to scale, and that’s why we’re bringing stakeholders together to make it happen”, he said.
Ajibade Laolu-Adewale, the vice chairman, of the committee of e-business industry heads said while the nation had made significant strides in telecommunications, there remained disparities in internet connectivity and network reliability across different regions.
He said for NFC to thrive there was need for robust and widespread infrastructure that could support seamless communication between devices, ensuring transactions were swift and secure, regardless of location.
According to him, the rapid expansion of digital Payment systems is shown in an era of contactless payments, which is not only convenient but also becoming important in a world affected by global events like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Laolu-Adewale said the payment industry in Nigeria had come up with methods necessary for optimising the contactless payment experience amongst consumers.
Laolu-Adewale said though the challenges facing NFC adoption in Nigeria were formidable, however, they were by no means insurmountable.
He insisted that forging partnerships between government, industry, academia, and civil society, these challenges could be addressed head-on.
