Emefiele

In the last few months of lockdown and gradual ease by both the Federal Government and states governments, there had been serious drop in banking hall transaction with geometric jump in digital transactions driven by agency banking and banks’ digital payment platforms.

Otherwise, the use of mobile money and “no touch”, cashless transactions in business have become the norm in many businesses.

For instance, the use of mobile money grew by almost 15 percent in March, and experts say the practice is expected to become even more common as the pandemic continues.

Already many safety-minded businesses have inscribed on their gates, saying “Cashless Payments Only”.

At the entrance of Washme laundry in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, the management has placed the notice and compliance rate according to an official is massive.

Besides, facts from the analysis by the Nigeria Interbank Settlement Scheme (NIBSS) show mobile money transactions went up by 14.5 percent between February and March – a period when the virus was first reported in Nigeria.

Business Hilights recalls that as Africa’s largest nation, Nigeria is a huge market for mobile money and financial technology operators. But for many years restrictive government regulatory policies limited investment in this sector.

In 2018, Nigeria’s Central Bank relaxed the restrictions, with the aim of having 80 percent of Nigerian adults use mobile money by 2020. Last December, it issued license to fifteen mobile money operators.