The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Governor, Godwin Emefiele has disclosed that the volume of transactions through electronic channels between 2017 and 2021 increased by 836 percent.
Emefiele made this known at the 34th seminar organized by CBN for finance correspondents and business editors on Tuesday in Calabar, Cross River.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the ongoing conference is tagged: “Implementing a Robust Payment Architecture: Prospects, Opportunities and Challenges”.
The Director of the Monetary Policy Department of the CBN, Dr Mahmud Hassan, who represented the governor said that the apex bank’s continued initiation and implementation of several programmes had helped to drive innovation.
According to him, the key objective is 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 that are 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 to diminish, 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.
(NAN)
