According to data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) between January and September this year, Nigerians transferred a total of N12.8 trillion using their mobile devices. This data shows an increase in the use of mobile options for financial transactions. In the whole of 2021, the value of all mobile transfers for the year stood at N8 trillion, meaning that the figure recorded in the first nine months of this year has surpassed that of last year.
Mobile transactions have grown 153 percent year on year compared to the first nine months of last year, which recorded N5.06 trillion for the period.
The NIBSS also noted that the volume of inter-scheme transactions went up by 133 percent year on year from the 188 million recorded in the first nine months of last year to 438 million recorded in the same period this year.
The increase in mobile connections played its part in sending the numbers up. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) noted that active subscriptions for mobile services across telecommunication providers MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile increased by 14.4 million between January and August of this year.
In January this year transfers worth N1.05 trillion were carried out via mobile. In February, the value for the same transactions was N1.09 trillion while March saw a total of N1.37 trillion worth of transfers via mobile. April and May also had N1.37 trillion worth of mobile transfers. In June, the value of mobile transfers rose to N1.47 and rose to N1.55 trillion in July. In August, a total of N1.8 trillion was transferred by bank customers over mobile devices, making it an all-time high. The figure fell slightly to N1.7 trillion in September.