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Lagos, FCT, Abia, four others account for 90% of cash transactions

By on May 27, 2013

As the cashless policy of the Bankers Committee prepares to enter its second phase, the Central Bank of Nigeria,CBN, at the weekend, hinted that the success would impact significantly on the nation’s payment system.

The policy is billed to take-off in the Federal Capital Territory, Rivers, Anambra, Abia, Kano, and Ogun states from July 1, which together with Lagos, according to the apex bank, accounts for 90 per cent of cash transactions in the country.

Deputy Governor, Operations, at the CBN, Tunde Lemo, said this was why they were selected for the second phase, after the Lagos pilot phase.

He noted that the system is no yet foolproof, and that identified challenges such as interconnectivity in some of the clusters, are being resolved.

Lemo said in addition to alternative channels of transactions such as Point of Sales,PoS, the cashless project would be driven through the telephone, as the nation falls back on the success recorded in its telecom sector where it has become second in number of mobile phone users in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa.

Lemo also said the cashless policy had been successful in Lagos, adding that the number of PoS machines in Lagos has increased significantly from about 5,000 when the policy took off last year, to over 150,000.