Electronic payment transactions in Nigeria rose to N600 trillion in 2023, hitting an all-time high as more Nigerians embrace cashless payments.
According to the data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), the value recorded on the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) represents a 55% increase over the N387 trillion recorded in 2022.
While the e-payment data shows a steady increase throughout the 12 months of the year, the highest value was recorded in December. Being a festive period with lots of spending activities, Nigerians spent a total of N71.9 trillion over electronic channels in December 2023. This came as the all-time high monthly record on the NIBSS electronic payment platform.
The NIBSS data showed that e-payment volume hit an all-time high of 1.1 billion in March 2023, the time Nigerians experienced cash scarcity and were forced to transact through electronic channels. However, the value for the month was not as high as what was recorded in December of the same year.
Source: NIBSS
Meanwhile, the volume of transactions processed by NIBSS for the year also jumped from 5.1 billion in 2022 to 9.7 billion in 2023. This represents a 90% increase year on year.
Monthly analysis
A look at the value of electronic transactions month by month shows that Nigerians spent N38.9 trillion on electronic platforms in January 2023, while in February, e-payment value stood at N36.8 trillion.
- Expectedly, In March 2023, the value of electronic transactions jumped to N48.3 trillion, driven by the scarcity of cash at that time.
- By April, a total of N41.3 trillion was spent on the electronic channels, while in May transaction volume stood at N45.9 trillion.
- NIP transactions value in June 2023 was N45.3 trillion, a slight decline from the value recorded in May. July saw e-payment transactions jump to N47.4 trillion.
- In August, the value of NIP transactions climbed further to N50.9 trillion, while it rose to N51 trillion in September.
- October and November transactions value stood at N59 trillion and N63.6 trillion respectively, while the highest transaction value of N71.9 trillion was recorded in December.
NIBSS NIP
The NIBSS Instant Payments (NIP) is an account-number-based, online real-time Inter-Bank payment solution developed in the year 2011 by NIBSS. It is the Nigerian financial industry’s preferred funds transfer platform that guarantees instant value to the beneficiary.
According to NIBSS, over the years, Nigerian banks have exposed NIP through their various channels, that is, internet banking, bank branch, Kiosks, mobile apps, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), POS, ATM, etc. to their customers.
Aside from the cash scarcity experienced in March last year, the revised cashless policy implemented by the CBN which further limits the amount of cash that can be withdrawn from banks daily, has also been pushing e-payment growth. Many Nigerians are now getting used to mobile transfers, paying with PoS, USSD, among others.
