Amid Economic tension NIPS, POS Payments Hit N318.66 Trillion

Amid the economic tension which has continued rising over the recent decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to enforce its cashless policy, cashless transactions have witnessed sustained growth by reaching N318.66 trillion over an 11-month period.

According to the data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, NIBSS, cashless transactions in Nigeria increased by 41.75 percent to hit N318.66 trillion from January to November 2022. The figure was N224.79 trillion In the corresponding period of 2021.

The total amount – N318.66 trillion represented the amount of the total volume of transactions processed on the Nigeria Instant Payment System, NIPS and Point of Sales terminals, PoS.

Total NIP transactions recorded during the period under review was N311.81 trillion while PoS transactions amounted to N6.85 trillion.

This increase in cashless transactions indicates a strong acceptance of digital payments in the nation and has also revealed a sustained growth in electronic payments since the COVID-19 pandemic.

There have been a back and forth between a group of Nigerians and the CBN over The recent ‘imposition’ of the cashless policy, an announcement that was made just after the bank revealed it will be redesigning the Naira notes.

The CBN recently announced it will be limiting over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals and corporate entities to N100,000 and N500,000 per week, respectively.

The bank’s helmsman, Godwin Emefiele, was yesterday, summoned by the House of Representatives and urged to suspend the policy and in his response, Emefiele had noted that there was no going back on the cashless policy.

In his words “We cannot continue to allow a situation where over 85 per cent of the cash that is in circulation is outside the bank. More and more countries that are embracing digitization have gone into cashless.

“And I said it at different fora, that this is not targeted at anybody, it is just meant for the good and development of the Nigerian economy and we can only continue to appeal to Nigerians to please see this policy the way we have presented it”.

With the figures from cashless transactions looking promising, this will definitely give the government an edge and strong grounds to stand by its decision to enforce the cashless policy.