ePayment recorded a series of failed transactions in February – it nosedived by 4.83 percent to N37.67 trillion, down from N39.58 trillion recorded in January 2023.
Data obtained from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) indicates that the usage of e-payment gateways recorded a 41.29 percent month-on-month increase.
Cashless payment gateways were used 901.46 million times in February, up from 638 million in January. Despite an increase in usage, the total value of cashless transactions fell in February, indicating that the number of failed transactions increased.
This is contrary to the expectation that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy on the Naira redesign will increase electronic transactions in the country.
The apex bank had reiterated on several occasions that the Naira redesign policy will encourage expanded financial inclusion and other forms of electronic transactions.
Poor Infrastructure
As a result of the policy, the country currently experiences a cash crunch—an economic crisis that has propelled many Nigerians to resort to electronic channels. However, a lot of the failed transactions were recorded as a result of poor network infrastructure.
Since 2020, the NIBSS has not updated its efficiency platform portal, which displays the number of failed transitions and other data, making it difficult to report the number of failed transactions.
As the major payment switch in the country, the NIBSS records cashless transactions from the Nigeria Instant Payment System and Point of Sales terminals. In February, the total NIP (instant payments) fell to N36.79tn from N38.772tn in January.
Despite the scarcity of naira witnessed in the month, the data from NIBSS revealed that the value of PoS transactions grew from N807.16bn in January to N883.45bn in February.
Usage of mobile transfers, which serve as the primary payment gateway for many Nigerians, soared by 69.87 percent from 108.14 million times in January to 183.69 million times in February.
While usage grew drastically, transaction value only grew marginally by 7.88 percent from N2.37tn in January to N2.56tn in February. This mirrored the experience of many Nigerians in the month, who had to grapple with multiple failed mobile transactions.
