Contrary to other views you have, the Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-EPPAN) has said the pace of mobile payment adoption in Nigeria is slow. according to a publication in The Guardian Nigeria, this was made known at the just concluded Mobile Money Africa International Conference.
“The Chief Executive Officer of the Association, Mrs. Onajite Regha, reminded stakeholders that mobile payment was expected to foster financial inclusion of the unbanked populace, facilitate economic activities and deliver on employment and economic growth on the long run.
Regha spoke on the topic: ‘Awareness creation: A Strategic Approach for the Adoption of Mobile Payment System in Nigeria.’ She said that despite the ongoing efforts by key players such as banks, mobile network operators and mobile payment service providers (MPSP) in promoting and offering mobile payment options, absence of widespread customer acceptance of this innovation has resulted in a lag in the adoption of mobile payments as an alternative form of payment mechanism.”
With Nigeria’s mobile user base set to hit 182 million by 2020, there is a huge potential for mobile payments in this market.
Kenya has M-Pesa which is a mobile payment and remittance platform which enjoys high patronage across the country. With a population of about 45 million and a GDP of $40b as at 2014 according to Bloomberg, about 43% of its GDP flows through the M-Pesa system. “78,856 M-Pesa agents in Kenya and almost 37,000 merchants that receive mobile payments — that’s not counting stall owners who simply use their own phone numbers. People receive salaries through the system: An employer can send money to the entire payroll by uploading a file. About 43 percent of Kenya’s $40 billion gross domestic product flows through the system. And, speaking of Bitcoin, M-Pesa is far, far ahead of the fashionable digital currency in transaction numbers.”
Nigeria whose GDP got rebased recently to about $500b making it the largest economy in Africa by GDP needs to create a more friendly environment for mobile payments to thrive. In a bid to encourage the public to embrace electronic means of payments, financial institutions have rewarded users of point of sales (POS) systems with some cash refunds.
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