- Nigeria’s electronic transactions hit record N1.08qd in 2024
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, on Wednesday, announced that the Federal Government has cleared the outstanding $7bn foreign exchange following a successful verification exercise by forensic auditors.
Cardoso disclosed this at the launch of Nigeria’s Regulatory Policy Framework organised by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council.
The event, which was tagged the regulators’ forum, took place at the State House Conference Hall in Abuja.
Cardoso explained that they are optimistic the clearance of the $7bn backlog would ease off the bottlenecks associated with repatriation of funds by businesses, multinationals and foreign investors.
According to the CBN governor, the outstanding forex clearance took far longer than they earlier anticipated.
He said, “In addressing foreign exchange liquidity constraint, decisive steps have been taken to clear outstanding $7bn forex backlog to ensure that businesses, multinationals, corporations and foreign investors can repatriate funds seamlessly
“This initiative has restored confidence among market participants and reinforced Nigeria’s commitment to honouring financial obligations in a timely and efficient manner. Talking about the $7bn backlog, we have cleared the verified claims.
“We also looked at the unverified ones, and I believe that we are at the final stages of separating what qualifies as fully verified, and we will surely be paying out those money that have been verified by the forensic auditors. It is unfortunate, to be honest, that it has taken so long.
“But the truth of the matter is that there were a lot of practices that went on that really should never have happened in the first place. That said, we are going to ensure that we do what we need to do to strengthen our market and create a better trust in what you investors naturally desire and deserve.”
Earlier in her address, PEBEC Director-General, Princess Zahrah Audu, explained that one of the key indicators for the commission was that the majority of the companies expected the government to provide them with a stable and predictable policy environment.
She said, “We are going to help you become a part of the formation of this policy because one of the things we actively encourage our MDAs to do is to have a sectoral stakeholder engagement in smaller groups. Now there is a more thorough process to go through before a policy is passed into law.
“It is very important to note that this administration will do things differently. We are constantly asking for your input because we don’t think we know it all. When you look at business from a government perspective, it is very different from looking at it from a private sector view.
“It is important that we always balance the two and see ourselves as stakeholders. Our doors will always be open, and we will be very responsive when it comes to calls and emails. As earlier said, my predecessor has left a viable platform for us to build on.”
Nigeria’s electronic transactions hit record N1.08qd in 2024, up 79%
Meanwhile, the value of electronic transactions in Nigeria rose by 79 per cent in 2024 compared to the previous year, reaching a record high of N1.08 quadrillion.
This is according to the latest data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System on NIBSS Instant Payments.
NIBSS Instant Payments is an account-number-based, online, real-time inter-bank payment solution developed in 2011 by NIBSS. It guarantees instant value to the beneficiary.
An analysis of the monthly data provided showed that the value of electronic transactions grew steadily in 2024, from N72.11 trillion in January to the peaks of the last quarter.
In October, NIP transactions stood at N103.21 trillion, rising to N109.53 trillion in November and N115.12 trillion in December.
January, which recorded the lowest monthly value at N72.11 trillion, was still higher than the value of all the months in the previous year, indicating an increased adoption of digital payment methods.
On the volume side, electronic transactions increased by 13.69 per cent, rising from 11.69 billion in 2023 to 13.92 billion by the end of 2024.
The highest transaction volume in 2024 was recorded in May at 1.02 billion, while the lowest was in June at 871.66 million.
Effective January 9, 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced an upward revision of its cash withdrawal policy for individuals and corporate organisations across all payment channels.
The apex bank explained that the new policy on cash-based transactions was intended to reduce the amount of physical cash circulating in the economy and encourage the use of electronic payment methods for goods and services.
According to the CBN, the cashless policy will reduce banking service costs, including credit charges, and drive financial inclusion by providing more efficient transaction options and greater reach. It will also improve the effectiveness of monetary policy in managing inflation and driving economic growth, increase consumer convenience and service options, reduce cash-related crimes, particularly banditry, ransom-taking, and terrorism financing, and provide cheaper access to banking services and credit.
On financial inclusion, the EFInA Access to Finance Survey revealed that more Nigerians are now included in the formal banking system, although gaps persist.
Financial inclusion rose to 74 per cent in 2023, up from 68 per cent in 2020, while 26 per cent of Nigerians remain financially excluded, according to the 2023 EFInA Access to Finance Survey.
“Despite the growth in access, certain demographic gaps continue to persist in Nigeria. For instance, the gender gap: growth in women’s financial inclusion from 60 per cent in 2020 to 70 per cent in 2023, despite an increase in the gender gap from 8 per cent in 2020 to 9 per cent in 2023. Urban-rural gap: the gap decreased from 24 per cent in 2020 to 20 per cent in 2023. Youth (18-35): 71 per cent of financial inclusion was recorded in 2023. Northern Nigeria: despite growing access, including significant gains in the North-East and North-West, all states in the North-East report exclusion levels above the national average,” the report stated.
