According to information gleaned from the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System, the value of Point of Sale (POS) transactions in Nigeria increased 39% to N8.03 trillion in 2022.
According to the statistics, N5.77 trillion was the expected value of all POS transactions between July 2020 and July 2021. However, the number of transactions rose to N8.03 trillion between July 2021 and July 2022, representing a 39.16% rise in that time.
Between July 2020 and July 2021, there were 921.19 million POS transactions; between July 2021 and July 2022, there were 1.20 billion.
The NIBSS reports that in just one month, in July 2022, there were 2.067 million POS transactions, which was the most ever recorded.
According to Gabriel Idahosa, Deputy President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), a growth in the provision of services and a robust market were the main drivers behind the recorded value of PoS transactions.
“First, the central bank approves payment services such as Momo Money from MTN and Smart Cash from Airtel.”
He pointed out that other important drivers for the growth of this payment method included the development of fintech businesses and the use of technology to raise awareness of it.
“Then, you have a lot more fintech companies advertising payment services. Organisations are allowing payments on their platform. Now, power companies allow payment of electricity bills over PoS, and even some government services let you do that. All the schools, both primary and secondary, allow you to use PoS too. Also, the banks have been very aggressive in promoting their PoS services.”
Idahosa observed that the culture of cashless policies was also quickly gaining popularity, partly as a result of the COVID-19 era’s lasting effects.
An economist, Bismarck Rewane, commented on the growth and claimed that technological improvement was a contributing factor.
“There’s a shift from cash and cheques to electronic payment. That’s why there has been an increase. There is broadband penetration, more mobile phone subscribers, and Nigerians are becoming more internet-savvy. So, they are making payments electronically rather than going by brick and mortar.”
Dr. Olusegun Vincent, a senior lecturer at Pan Atlantic University, went on to say that inflation made the raise necessary.
“Inflation is part of the surge. Prices of goods and services have gone up. Another major aspect is the issue of insecurity. People are being very careful. That’s why they adopt POS because of the ease of payments. You will discover that if you don’t use POS, you can’t get money. Most Automated Teller Machines are often running out of funds. So, nobody wants to waste time and they go to the merchant.”
The central bank never anticipated such a wide use of electronic payments, he continued, calling it a revolution.
