Nigeria’s mobile payment recorded its highest monthly transaction of N6.5 billion (USD 32 million) in March, indicating increased adoption of mobile devices for payments.
The report was disclosed by the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) in the electronic payment report posted on its website. The report showed that the value of transactions via mobile payment grew faster than other channels between January and March this year.
In terms of value, mobile payment grew by 51 percent from N4.3 billion in January to N6.5 billion in March. On a yearly basis, mobile payment recorded the second highest growth, after the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP). From March 2015 to March 2016, value of mobile payment rose 75.6 percent from N3.7 billion to N6.5 billion.
In terms of volume, mobile payment grew by 55 percent to 190,277 in March from 121,940 in January. Compared to the volume in March 2015, mobile payment grew by 146 percent from 77,185 March 2015, to 190,277 in March 2016.
Reflecting on the latest development, President, Association of Licensed Mobile Operators (ALMO), Mr. Dare Owolabi said: “The growth of mobile payment transactions has not started. We are still scratching the surface. Sometime in the nearest future,especially when we as a body surmount the challenges we face, the number of transactions you see today will quadruple.
Most of the transactions recorded today are done in the urban with non or limited interoperability. Once the MMOs extend their services to the rural areas with laudable products and interoperability kicks in, monthly transactions will be over a 100 billion.”
However, while the NIBSS report revealed a general increase in the volume and value of transactions across the various electronic payment channels, it shows a decline in the number of Point of Sale Terminals in the country.
While the number of PoS deployed across the country declined to 116,602 in March from 119,126 in January, the total number of registered PoS dropped by 4.4 percent to 135,651 in March from 141,787 in January. However on an annual basis, PoS deployed rose by 2.5 percent from 99,670, in March 2015, while the number of registered PoS rose by 17 percent from 125,766 in March 2015.
Transactions through Point of Sale (PoS) grew by 10.6 percent and 19.4 percent in terms of value and volume between January and March. While the volume of PoS transaction rose from 3.6 billion in January to 4.3 billion in March, the value rose from N47 billion to N52 billion. On an annual basis, the volume of PoS transaction rose by 65.3 percent from 2.6 billion in March 2015. The value of PoS transactions rose by 56 percent from N33.5 billion in March 2015.
The NIBSS report also revealed increased use of the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) during the period. While the value of transactions through the NIP channel rose by 16.6 percent to N2.8 trillion in March from N2.4 trillion in January, the volume of transactions rose by 29 percent to 9.47 billion in March from 7.3 billion in January. On a yearly basis, the value of rose by 47 percent from N1.9 trillion in March 2015, while the volume rose by 88 percent from N5 trillion in March 2015.
