Electronic payment transactions in Nigeria rose to N284.9 trillion in the first quarter of 2025 as more Nigerians go cashless.
According to the data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), the value recorded on the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) represents a 22% increase over the N234.4 trillion transactions recorded in Q1 2024.
The NIP is an account-number-based, online real-time Inter-Bank payment solution developed in the year 2011 by NIBSS and it facilitates transactions across multiple electronic channels including internet banking, mobile apps, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), POS, ATM, among others.
An analysis of three months data shows that the highest value was recorded in January as Nigerians performed transactions worth N100 trillion over the electronic platforms.
In February, the value of NIP transactions stood at N88.8 trillion, while the value jumped again to N96 trillion in March.
The NIBSS data showed that e-payment volume also followed the value trend as the highest volume of transactions were recorded in January.
The volume of transactions across all the electronic platforms stood at 792 million in January, while it declined slightly to 687.5 million in February.
Meanwhile, NIBSS recently unveiled a new payment solution called National Payment Stack (NPS) to revolutionise instant payment in the country and complement the NIP.
Speaking during the unveiling of the new solution in Lagos, the Managing Director of NIBSS, Mr. Premier Oiwoh, said the NPS was built to prepare Nigeria for the future of digital payments.
“It’s a transition to the future. With NPS, we didn’t just build another instant payment solution, we laid the foundation for Nigeria’s financial future,” Oiwoh said.
According to the NIBSS MD, some of the features of the new payment platform include:
Oiwoh noted that the strategic objective of building the NPS is to drive digital payment innovation, deepen financial inclusion within the ecosystem, and improve government social intervention payments, tax payments and revenue collection.
He added that with Nigeria’s target of building a $1 trillion economy in 8 years, an improved payment rail such as the NPS is required to stimulate and prepare the country for the future.