Nigeria records N97.4trn increase in e-transaction value – CBN

The Nigeria’s e-payment industry recorded increases in both transaction volume and value by 59.72 percent and 40.95 percent respectively, in 2017, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The transaction volume stood at 1.4 billion valued at N97.4 trillion in 2017, which were higher than 869 volume of transaction valued at N69.1 trillion recorded in 2016.

Transactions increased in both volume and value across all months in 2017. November recorded the highest in transaction volume with August as the highest in transaction value.

This has been usual trend as these are months of summer holidays, school fees and festive holidays. January recorded the lowest volume and value of transactions.

Speaking at the 2018 general meeting of the Nigeria electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF), Adebayo Adelabu, Deputy Governor, Operations, CBN, said the Forum has played a leading role in ensuring that the Payments System in Nigeria remains secure and well protected from fraudsters in a very proactive manner.

“We must also not lose sight of the fact that leading circulars have emerged from the deliberations at meetings such as these”, he said.

Represented by Tokunbo Martins, director, Other Financial Institution department, CBN, (OFID) Adelabu said the import of this years’ theme speaks to the essence of collaboration and how it has brought critical players in the payments system (banks, consumers, telecom operators and law enforcement) together under one umbrella objective – fighting electronic fraud!

This collaboration will no doubt bring to bear, increased knowledge and information sharing and deepen the payments industry’s capacity to succeed in this fight against e-fraud.

Dipo Fatokun, director, banking and payments system/chairman NeFF, said there is an upsurge of electronic fraud especially in recent times, despite the concerted efforts to check fraud in the country.

“It has therefore, become necessary to review and strengthen the existing rules, and enact new regulations to stem the problem. Taming fraud will continue to be a focus for the Forum, as we know the impact fraud has in diminishing trust which is an essential ingredient in building an internationally recognized and nationally utilized payments system. Hence, we remain committed in ensuring that the Nigerian Payment System is not only easy to use, but also reliable and trustworthy”, Fatokun said.

In her goodwill message, Martins said, “We should keep up the speed, the passion and we shouldn’t rest on our oars. Just that the moment that we come out with something new, the first step they are thinking of- new ways, innovative ways exploiting new phones and stealing our money. We should also keep up the pace and think of how we can mitigate every avenue that a fraudster will have to commit fraud.

She thanked the host of the programme and encouraged everyone present to continue the good work and make sure that our payment system is reliable, trustworthy and nobody has any fear using it”.