*e-payments hit N34.02trn
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said rail passenger traffic dropped in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2018.
The Bureau said 723,995 people travelled by rail in the first quarter of this year, compared to 748,345 people, who travelled in the same period last year.
The information is contained in the Rail Transportation Data of the NBS, posted on the website of the company.According to the NBS, the figures represent -3.25 per cent decline year-on-year and -3.05 per cent decline quarter-on-quarter.
The NBS said there was also decline in the volume of goods and cargo moved by rail in the first quarter of 2019.
It said a total of 54,099 tonnes of cargo were moved by rail in the first quarter of this year, compared to the 79,750 carried in the first quarter of 2018.
Revenue generated from passengers in the first quarter of 2019 was put at N520.79 million as against N507.49 in the first quarter of 2018.
Similarly, revenue generated from goods/cargo in first quarter, 2019 was put at N102.58 million as against N84.40 million in the first quarter of 2018.
The NBS said data for the report was provided by the Nigerian Railway Corporation and subsequently, verified and validated by the NBS.
Also, according to NBS, a total of 557,083,712 electronic-payment transactions valued at N34.02 trillion were recorded in selected banks across the country in the first quarter, 2019.
This is contained in its report on Selected Banking Sector Data: Sectorial Breakdown of Credit, ePayment Channels and Staff Strength data posted on its website.
It said Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Instant Payment (NIP) transactions dominated the volume of transactions recorded with 232,816,102 volume of NIP transactions valued at N24.17 trillion were recorded within the period under review.
It, however, said in terms of credit to the private sector, the total value of credit allocated by the banks stood at N15.21 trillion as at first quarter 2019.
It said the Oil and Gas and Manufacturing sectors got credit allocation of N3.49 trillion and N2.23 trillion respectively to record the highest credit allocation as at the period under review.
Also, the total number of staffers of the banks increased by 0.33 per cent quarter-on-quarter from 104,669 in fourth quarter, 2018 to 105,017 in first quarter, 2019.
