Nigeria’s e-payment channels in five charts

More Nigerians are going cashless as the volume of financial transactions through various e-payment channels has more than doubled in the last 12 months (January-December 2022), according to data from Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).

Here are five charts that show the volume of transactions carried out by Nigerians on a month-month basis.

Nigeria Instant payment

The NIP platform has become one of the most preferred methods of payment. Its growth has been driven by the steady rise in mobile telephony and growing internet penetration across the country.

The volume of transactions processed in the twelve months of the year rose to 42 percent to 5.1 billion in 2022 from 3.4 billion in 2021.

According to the most recent data from the NIBSS, the total value of electronic transactions recorded under the NIP platform increased by 42 percent to N387 trillion in 2022 from N272 trillion recorded in 2021.

Nigeria spent a total of N42 trillion in December 2022, this figure represents the highest value of monthly transactions recorded on the platform and largely reflects the sustained growth of electronic payments in Nigeria.

Mobile transaction

The volume of mobile transactions rose to 714 million users between January and December 2022, representing a 151 percent increase compared to 284 million users in 2021.

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The value of transactions made through mobile in the twelve months of 2022 rose to N19.4 trillion, a 141 percent increase compared to N8 trillion in the same period of 2021,

Point of sale

The volume of PoS transactions in the twelve months of 2022 amounted to 1.14 billion compared to 982 million made in 2021. This contributed to a 17 percent increase in the user base.

The value of PoS transactions saw a 30 percent increase to N8.3 trillion realised in 2022 from N6.4 trillion in the same period in 2021.

E-bills transaction

The E-bills pay channels, widely used for bills payment declined by 25 percent to 885.947 in 2022 from 1.1 million realised in the period under review.

The value of E-bills transactions in the 12 months of 2022 rose by 22.9 percent to N2.8 trillion from N2.2 trillion in the same period of 2021.

Cheque

Payments made through cheques are gradually becoming less popular. Payments through the channel were flat year-to-year basis amounting to an 8.55 percent decline with only 4 million users realised in 2022 compared to 4.4 million users in the twelve months of 2021.

The value of transactions in cheques in the twelve months period fell by 0.27 percent to N5.2 billion in 2022 from N5.3 billion in the same period in 2021.

Analyst view

Damilola Adewale, a Lagos-based economic analyst, said new payment innovations and increased mobile penetration mean convenience for many consumers who will prefer to use their mobile devices to conduct transactions. However, many more people are coming on board due to the new naira notes policy by the CBN.

“People will most likely limit the amount of cash at hand by adopting e-channels for their transactions because the expiry date for the existing notes is January 2023,” he said.