Nigeria’s electronic payment transactions have increased by over 23% within a month, rising from N37.6tn ($90.7bn) in February 2023 to N49.4tn in March.
The data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed a significant increase in the total value of e-payment transactions in March despite the continuing failure of e-payment transactions in the first quarter, which had left 40% of complaints unresolved.
NIBSS has not provided any details on the unresolved transactions.
The increasing volume of transactions is due to the surge in the use of digital payment channels despite a decrease in cash scarcity.
The unresolved transactions have resulted in millions of naira held up and customers unable to carry out transactions.
There are several failed e-payment transactions within the banking cycle, as well as in hospitals, cinemas, shopping malls, and other public places.
The debt owed to telecoms operators by banks on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) continues to increase, and it now exceeds N100bn.
The issue has worsened over the last three months due to the Federal Government’s policy on naira redesign.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) rules on dispense errors, among others, have also been breached.
The unresolved and unreversed transactions contravene CBN rules on dispense errors. The backlog of all customer refunds for ATM, POS, and Web is directed to be resolved by all banks within two weeks, according to a circular issued in June 2020 by the CBN.
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