According to Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the number of transactions conducted online climbed by 836 percent between 2017 and 2021.
At the 34th seminar for finance correspondents and business editors held by CBN on Tuesday in Calabar, Cross River, Mr. Emefiele made this disclosure.
“Implementing a Robust Payment Architecture: Prospects, Opportunities and Challenges” is the focus of the current conference.
The Governor, who was represented by Mahmud Hassan, Director of the CBN’s Monetary Policy Department, claimed that the continuing development and implementation of several programs by the central bank had fueled innovation.
According to him, it has also met emerging market needs in the payment system landscape.
Mr. Emefiele said the key objective was the use of a payment system as a tool to achieve financial inclusion goals in the country.
He said through these programs, the CBN had successfully repositioned the Nigerian payment system to be highly competitive and acclaimed as one of the most innovative globally.
“Thus, many payment products found in the country are now readily available in some other economies.
“These include the Instant Payment, the QR codes, the Central Bank Digital Currency (eNaira).
“These efforts have culminated in a significant increase in the total volume of transactions and electronic payment channels.
“While the use of cash and cheques continued diminishing, web-based transactions such as PoS, NIP, ATM, and MMO have increased substantially.
“For instance, between 2021 and 2017, the volume of transactions via electronic channels such as ATM, POS, WEB, MMO, and NIP increased by 99.76, 1,775.72, 35,502.58, 2,413.44 and 836.50 percent, respectively,” he said.
The eNaira, one of the apex bank’s major projects, according to Mr. Emefiele, was responsible for this important development in payment system architecture.
Since the eNaira’s debut, the initiative, according to him, has continued to change its features to make it more usable by a wider range of users.
Emefiele said, “Today, one does not need a smartphone to use the eNaira as it has become compatible with all generations of mobile devices, including future phones.
“Today, over 1.4 million transactions have passed through the eNaira platform.”
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