Ben Uzor Jr
As Nigeria’s 16 mobile payment operators jostle to expand
the scope of the market, the total value of mobile money transactions is
expected to increase to N151 billion by 2015.The minister of communications
technology, Omobola Johnson, made this known in a statement made available to
Business Day, weekend. Total value of transactions on mobile money networks,
according to her stands at N228 million. She also said the total volume of
non-store shopping increased from N62 billion in 2011 to N77.5 billion in 2012.
Industry analysts say non-store shopping is largely been driven by the
Internet. The constant growth of the formal retail sector in Nigeria, along
with rising internet penetration in the country, is driving the expansion of
online retailing, according to the analysts.
Johnson however predicted that the figure for non- store
shopping will increase to N658 billion by 2015. “Verified Mobile Money Agents
currently stand at 3, 000 and expectations are that the number of agents will
increase to 50,000 by 2015”. A new survey has revealed that only 400,000
Nigerians are registered with mobile money operators out of 28.6 million adults
operating bank accounts in the country. The survey, which was carried out by
Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access, stated that 4.8 million adults were
aware of mobile money but 400,000 people actually have registration with mobile
money agents. The figure however represents 1.4 percent of the bank account
holders.
This is a clear
indication that mobile money service is still struggling to get a footing in
Nigeria even with its huge potentials. Industry analysts say mobile money
operators and banks have failed to clearly define the benefits customers can
derive from using the service. The survey also shows that 0.45 percent of the
total adult population in Nigeria use the mobile money facility. It further
stated that mobile money was mostly used to buy airtime, with 32.9 percent of
registered mobile money users buying airtime on the platform; while 28 per cent
use mobile money to send money to people. According to the survey, 21.8 percent
of users have the platform just to receive money from people.
On the other hand,
17.4 percent use it to pay bills. Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
has directed the 16 Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) in the country to fully
connect to the National Central Switch (NCS) before Feb. 28, 2013. The CBN gave
the directive in a circular entitled “Timeline for Interoperability and
Interconnectivity” on Friday. The circular was signed by Dipo Fatokun, CBN’s
director of banking and payment system. The circular stated that full
connection to NCS would enhance MMOs’ “inter-operability and
interconnectivity“. The apex bank said the decision for all MMOs to connect to
NCS was reached at the Mobile Payment Forum held on Nov. 29. It added that “for
avoidance of doubt, appropriate sanction will be imposed on any mobile payment
operator that fails to comply with the circular.”
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