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There are signs that Nigerians are quickly moving away from cash transactions as the value of electronic payment transactions continues to rise.
The most recent report from the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) released on Monday shows that the value of electronic payment transactions (EPT) increased by 89 percent year-on-year (YoY) to N257.73 trillion in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1’24) from N136.2 trillion in Q1’23.
The data also indicated a significant increase in the value of NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) transactions, which grew by 90.8 percent year on year to N236.46 trillion in Q1’24 from N123.9 trillion in Q1’23.
The report also highlighted that the value of Mobile Money Operations (MMO) transactions grew 87.8 percent to N17.11 trillion in Q1’24 from N9.11 trillion in Q1’23. Similarly, the value of Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions experienced a substantial increase of 127.9 percent to N10.1 billion in Q1’24 from N4.43 billion in Q1’23, with its volume also rising by 6.7 percent to 6.46 million in Q1’24 from 6.05 million in Q1’23.
These growth trends reflect the growing preference of Nigerians for electronic payment channels. On the other hand, the value of Cheque transactions grew by 22 percent to N935.24 billion in Q1’24 from N765.9 billion in Q1’23.
However, the volume of transactions decreased by 16.6 percent to 900.3 million in Q1’24 from 1.08 billion in Q1’23.
In contrast, the value of Point of Sale (PoS) transactions, a popular cash alternative, declined by 8.09 percent year on year to N2.61 trillion in Q1’24 from N2.84 trillion in Q1’23.
This decline followed a similar 5.29 percent month-on-month decrease in February, dropping to N805 billion from N850 billion in January.
