The Nigeria Interbank Settlement System and Nigerian Communications Commission have released the mobile transactions data for the last five years which increased by 4,009.58% to hit N8.07 trillion.
The data revealed that the number of telecommunications subscribers rose by 34.91% to 195,128,265.
According to mobile inter-scheme transaction data tracked on the NIBBS portal, the mobile transactions was at N196.29bn in 2017 which increased to N8.07tn at the end of 2021.
In 2017, 5,130,716 mobile transactions were worth N196.29bn; 7,229,878 transactions were worth N292.02bn in 2018; 41,212,074 transactions were worth N828.10bn in 2019; and 132,978,782 transactions were worth N3.05tn in 2020. In 2021, the volume of mobile transactions surged to 284,501,722 as the value hit N8.07tn.
The NIBBS stated that the increase was majorly driven by a behavioural change of bank customers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a report released by the NIBBS titled ‘Instant Payments – 2020 Annual Statistics’, it said the COVID-19 pandemic changed the e-payments landscape, and accelerated the adoption of instant payments as more people switched to electronic channels for funds transaction.
It added that mobile devices drove electronic payment in 2020, as it accounted for 43 per cent of total transactions in 2020, while 35 per cent of the transactions were with USSD, indicating that 78 per cent of the total transfer transactions were carried out using mobile devices.
According to data from the NCC, it stated that within the period under review, the number of telecom subscribers increased by 34.91% from 144,631,678 in 2017 to 195,463,898 in 2021.
