On Wednesday, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System revealed that the number of cashless transactions in the nation increased to N611.06 trillion by 2023. According to it, the payouts increased from N395.38 trillion in 2022 to N55.55 trillion in 2023.
NIBSS Instant Payments is an online, real-time, account-number-based Inter-Bank payment service that was created by NIBSS in 2011. The funds transfer platform used by the Nigerian financial sector ensures that the beneficiary will receive their money right away.
According to a study of NIBSS statistics, electronic payment channels were utilized 11.05 billion times in 2023 compared to 6.28 billion times the year before, a 75.96% increase.
It showed that the total value of instant payments in 2023 was N600.36tn, and Point of Sales transactions was N10.7tn and relied upon for 1.38 billion times. The firm noted that the figures, which hit an all-time high, indicated improvement in the acceptance of cashless payments by Nigerians.
While the e-payment data showed a steady increase throughout the 12 months of the year, the highest value was recorded in December, which was a festive period. In December, Nigerians transacted up to N71.9tn over electronic channels.
The NIBSS data showed that e-payment volume hit an all-time high of 1.1 billion in March 2023, when the country experienced cash scarcity and were forced to transact through electronic channels.
However, the value for March was not as high as what was recorded in December.
Meanwhile, the volume of transactions processed by NIBSS for the year also jumped to 9.7 billion during the period under review from 5.1 billion in 2022, representing a 90 per cent increase year-on-year.
A look at the value of electronic transactions month by month showed that Nigerians spent N38.9tn on electronic platforms in January and in the following month,e-payment value stood at N36.8tn.
Similarly, in March 2023, the value of electronic transactions jumped to N48.3tn, driven by the scarcity of cash at that time.
