Nigeria’s electronic payment transactions surged to N126.39tn in six months via the two digital payment platforms – Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Instant Payment System and Point of Sales terminals.
Data obtained from NIBSS showed that electronic payment transactions recorded 100.86 per cent growth in value when compared to an aggregate of N62.92tn in the corresponding period of 2020.
The two digital payment platforms driving electronic payments are the NIBSS Instant Payment System and Point of Sales terminals.
In the first six months of 2020, the value of NIP transactions was N60.92tn; in the corresponding period of 2021, it grew to N123.38tn.
The value of PoS transactions was N2.00tn for the first six months of 2020. In the corresponding period of 2021, it rose to N3.01tn.
According to the NIBSS ‘Instant Payments – 2020 Annual Statistics’, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the ePayments landscape, accelerating the adoption of instant payments as more people transitioned to electronic channels for funds exchange in the wake of government imposed lockdowns.
The NIBSS said that mobile remained the preferred channel with 43 per cent of total transactions in 2020, while 35 per cent of transactions was with USSD, indicating that 78 per cent of total transfer transactions was carried out using mobile devices.
In January the value of NIP transactions was N18.5tn; in February it was N18.3tn. In March the figure rose to N22tn; in April and May it declined to N20.7tn and N20.7tn respectively. However, in June it recovered to its highest recorded value of N23tn.
Value of PoS transactions in January was N489.2bn, in February it was N468.9bn. By March it grew to N531.4bn before reducing to N507.9bn, N503.9bn, and 503.9bn in April, May, and June respectively.
As reported by The PUNCH, a report by ACI Worldwide had said that Nigeria would witness an accelerated transition to digital payments over the next five years, and real-time volumes would reach 7.7 billion by 2025.
According to the report, real-time volume for payment was 1.9 billion in 2020; in the six months under review, real-time volume was 1.57 billion.
