In February 2023, cashless transactions in Nigeria plummeted to N37.67 trillion as a result of hiccups and delays in cash transfers.
According to new data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System on Monday, this represented a 4.83 percent decrease from the N39.58 trillion that was recorded in January.
E-payment gateway usage increased from 638 million uses in January to 901.46 million uses in February, a 41.29 percent rise. Despite a rise in usage, there were more unsuccessful transactions in February as the total amount of cashless transactions dropped.
Since 2020, the NIBSS has not updated the efficiency platform portal, which lists the quantity of unsuccessful transitions and other information.
The Nigeria Immediate Payment System and Point of Sales terminals’ cashless transactions are recorded by the NIBSS, the primary payment switch in the nation. The overall NIP (immediate payments) decreased to N36.79 trillion in February from N38.772 trillion in January.
The value of PoS transactions increased from N807.16 billion in January to N883.45 billion in February, according to data from NIBB, indicating sustained use of PoS terminals.
Nigerians have been forced to use electronic forms of transactions ever since the Central Bank of Nigeria announced its naira redesign strategy and withdrawal limits in 2022.
While announcing its policy, the central bank said, “The maximum weekly limit for cash withdrawals across all channels by individuals and corporate organisations shall be N500,000 and N5m respectively.”
It added, “Customers should be encouraged to use alternative channels (Internet banking, mobile banking apps, USSD, cards/POS, eNaira, etc.) to conduct their banking transactions.”
Unfortunately, the banking industry has been completely overwhelmed by the pressure of growing electronic payment, leaving many clients stranded. Numerous bankers have speculated that some of these issues may have occurred as a result of the NIBSS’s inability to expand its capacity in response to the growth in transaction volume.
A lot of failed transactions, according to some experts, are the result of weak network infrastructure.
The President of the Bank Customers Association of Nigeria, Dr Uju Ogunbunka, recently said “You know the banks do not provide network services. Based on what we found out, there was a failure in the network system.”
