Nigeria’s financial sector regulator the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that about N815.47 billion has been transferred though the Nigerian mobile money system since its inception. The figures were revealed by Dipo Fatokun, director of Banking and Payment System at the CBN.
Speaking in Ilorin on Monday at the NDIC workshop for business editors and finance correspondents with the theme: “Developments in E-banking, Mobile Payments and Deposit Insurance Corporation in Nigeria”, Fatokun, who was represented by Mr. Sola Agboola, assistant director of the department, said that the monies were transferred in 76.95 billion transactions by 24.4 million subscribers.He noted that the platform had created employment opportunities through the 98,158 agents in the scheme. However, he said there still exist untapped opportunities within the ecosystem, adding that the CBN and other stakeholders were putting in efforts to fill the identified gap.
Furthermore, he said a total of 21 mobile money operators had been licensed by the CBN and are carrying out commercial operations, although eight were actually running the pilot stage. Fatokun also said that mobile money scheme was to leverage on the existing business network infrastructure as strategy for driving financial inclusion of the unbanked.”The primary objective of mobile payment is to foster financial inclusion, deliver on employment, transaction cost reduction and facilitate economic growth in the medium to long-term,” he said.
