Electronic payments in Nigeria grew by 54.55 per cent year-on-year to N611.06tn in 2023, new statistics from the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System have shown.
This underscored the growing reliance on digital payments in the country. Cashless payments grew to N611.06tn from N395.38tn as of the end of 2022.
BusinessDay analysis of the data revealed that electronic payment channels were used 11.05 billion times in 2023, a 75.96 percent increase from the 6.28 billion times they were used in 2022. The NIBSS records cashless transactions from the Nigeria Instant Payment System and Point of Sales terminals. The total value of instant payment in 2023 was N600.36tn, and PoS was N10.7tn.
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Instant payment channels, including mobile, were used 9.67 billion times, and PoS terminals were relied upon for 1.38 billion times. Cashless transactions in the country were partly boosted by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy and withdrawal limits from December 2022.
After announcing a limit on transactions, the apex bank said, “Customers should be encouraged to use alternative channels (Internet banking, mobile banking apps, USSD, cards/POS, eNaira, etc.) to conduct their banking transactions.”
