The value of mobile transactions rose to N11.10tn in the first eight months of 2022, figures from Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System has revealed.

NIBSS stated on its website total mobile transaction value was N4.29tn in the corresponding period of 2021.

Mobile payment experienced a surge in 2020 due to Covid-19, while the decline in the use of cheques set in, according to experts.

The NIBSS figure 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 USSD, indicating 78 per cent of the total transfer transactions were carried out using mobile devices.

According to the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications Commission, Umar Danbatta, a benefit of financial service riding on telecom infrastructure was the provision of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data as it had brought ease to financial transactions.

During the period under review, the number of active GSM subscribers increased from 173.63 million in January 2019 to 206.08 million in June 2022.

In its mobile money industry report for 2021, GSMA, the global body for telecommunication companies, noted that “while 2020 saw unparalleled challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, the mobile money industry witnessed strong efforts in striving towards cashless societies, entering strategic partnerships to expand the horizons of digital payments and developing new and robust interoperable payment systems.”

Punch