E-payment transactions rise by 85.52% in one year

Nigeria’s electronic payment transactions increased by 85.52 per cent year-on-year to N171.99trillion in August 2021, data obtained from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System have shown.

From January to August 2020, e-payment was N92.71trillion. It increased to N171.99trillion in the corresponding period in 2021, which is 85.52 per cent increase y-o-y.

E-payment transactions are tracked on the NIBSS through the Nigeria Instant Payment System and Point of Sales terminals.

NIP transactions witnessed 86.79 per cent increase y-o-y, from N89.90tn in 2020 to N167.93trillion in 2021. PoS transactions witnessed 44.85 per cent increase y-o-y, from N2.81trllion in 2020 to N4.07trillion in 2021.

In a report by the NIBSS titled ‘Instant Payments – 2020 Annual Statistics,’ it said that the COVID-19 pandemic had changed the e-Payments landscape, and accelerated the adoption of instant payments as more people are switching to electronic channels for funds exchange.

The NIBSS added that mobile drove electronic payment in 2020, accounting for 43 per cent of total transactions in 2020, while 35 per cent of transactions was with USSD, indicating a 78 per cent of total transfer transactions were carried out using mobile devices.

According to Visa, mobile money transactions reached $490billion in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020.

A report by ACI Worldwide said Nigeria would witness an accelerated transition to digital payments over the course of five years and real-time volumes would reach 7.7 billion by 2025.

Based on the report, real-time volume for payment was 1.9 billion in 2020; in the eight months under review, real-time volume totaled 2.77 billion on the NIP and PoS portal.