₦airaland Forum

A Reuters report has confirmed that Africa's most populous nation is set to become the latest country on the continent to get on the mobile money system, a move which analysts say has the potential of transforming personal and business banking in the country.

Taking a hint from Keny and South Africa, Nigeria's central bank is set to implement the new system later this year after trials held across the country prove successful.

This new mobile money system will afford Nigerians the ease of transfer money and pay for goods with the use of their mobile phones, turning the country into the latest cash-less economy.

According to Reuters, about 65 percent of the Nigerian people don't own a bank account, they likely carry around wads of cash with them. Supporters of the system say the scheme would reduce the need to do that, which will in turn reduce the chances of theft, corruption and fraud.

"A lot of people carry cash around, they believe in that cash, if they don't see that cash there is problems, so they (will have) trust and make sure that this thing works," said Oluwadare Owolabi, founder and chief executive FETS, one of the 15 companies licensed by the central bank to operate mobile money.

An older statistic states that of Nigeria's population of over 150 million people, nearly 89 million of them have mobile phones, making more investors and financial companies interested in the mobile banking system.

In preparation for the new system the central bank has embarked on numerous workshops and conferences with people in the financial and telecom industry, Reuters reported.

Paga, a Lagos based financial company, is another company licensed to operate mobile money business. Tayo Oviosu, co-founder and chief executive of Paga says he believes the new system could transform Nigeria.

"I really do believe that the kinds of productivity gains that we saw in the West when the computer came out, and then we saw a gains when the internet came out, are the kinds of gains we are about to see in Nigeria with products like Paga, is that it will change people's businesses," he said.

Oviosu says the technology will lower the cost of remittances in Nigeria as it will remove the need for physical presence in order to ensure that transactions occur on time.

"Our goal is to have 15 million active customer base by 2015, and have 30,000 agents across Nigeria by 2015, we want to have an agent down the street for every Nigerian," said Oviosu.

But despite the excitement caused by Nigeria's progress towards an era of mobile money, experts have warned that the country's financial landscape which has been riddled with money laundering and fraud could discourage most people from using mobile money.

There are over 20 million bank accounts in Nigeria but few are active. Currently the majority of people would rather keep their cash at home where they can see it - a habit that some say will be hard to change.

World leaders are negotiating an increase in the International Monetary Fund's resources which could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars.
Chancellor George Osborne said the heads of state and finance ministers gathered for the G20 summit were now "getting down to the nitty-gritty" of discussing how to increase the size of the international economic backstop.
In remarks delivered on the sidelines of the Cannes meeting, Mr Osborne said that there was a "conversation about increasing resources to the IMF in the classic way".
Although he added that there were unlikely to be precise figures until at least end of the meeting on Friday, experts said that the IMF's resources may have to be doubled in order to make it big enough to calm markets.
The fund currently has \$950bn (£595bn) of resources, although more than half of this is either in use or has been committed to troubled countries.
The plans to increase the emergency fund have gathered pace amid concerns that the eurozone's own bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), is failing to inspire investors and calm markets.
Mr Osborne's comments came on a day which was dominated by news about the Greek government's U-turn on plans to hold a referendum on the latest stage of the bailout.
Despite speculation that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou was on the brink of resigning, Mr Papandreou himself told Sky News that he would not stand down - though he would cancel the referendum plan.
The IMF increase will provoke controversy in the UK because it will indicate that Britain will be indirectly committed to providing further cash for bailouts.
However, the fund will not give directly to the EFSF, and the extra cash will not show up as a bigger UK deficit because of the way the contribution is accounted for.

blink182:
Didn't you see the price tag, abi you go fund am?

World leaders are negotiating an increase in the International Monetary Fund's resources which could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars.
Chancellor George Osborne said the heads of state and finance ministers gathered for the G20 summit were now "getting down to the nitty-gritty" of discussing how to increase the size of the international economic backstop.
In remarks delivered on the sidelines of the Cannes meeting, Mr Osborne said that there was a "conversation about increasing resources to the IMF in the classic way".
Although he added that there were unlikely to be precise figures until at least end of the meeting on Friday, experts said that the IMF's resources may have to be doubled in order to make it big enough to calm markets.
The fund currently has \$950bn (£595bn) of resources, although more than half of this is either in use or has been committed to troubled countries.
The plans to increase the emergency fund have gathered pace amid concerns that the eurozone's own bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), is failing to inspire investors and calm markets.
Mr Osborne's comments came on a day which was dominated by news about the Greek government's U-turn on plans to hold a referendum on the latest stage of the bailout.
Despite speculation that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou was on the brink of resigning, Mr Papandreou himself told Sky News that he would not stand down - though he would cancel the referendum plan.
The IMF increase will provoke controversy in the UK because it will indicate that Britain will be indirectly committed to providing further cash for bailouts.
However, the fund will not give directly to the EFSF, and the extra cash will not show up as a bigger UK deficit because of the way the contribution is accounted for.

adelegan1:
Please do not invest in agriculture in nigeria. If you do you will cry. I have been an industrial farmer for the past seven years

Ijogz K:
Lets see it work out 1st

freshera:
The Jews have gotten over the holocaust and I think people should stop talking about slavery. Every continent has a dark historical moment but most have moved on.

If anybody calls me a slave, I would just look at the person like he or she is mad, seriously. Cos slavery ended long ago.

One question I ask is why should present living Africans fel guilty for slavery WHEN THEY DIDN'T ENSLAVE THEMSELVES. The whites packed them like sardines in a tin in the ship and starved them through the whole journey. When anyone died, they were thrown into the ocean. And when they got to wherever,they were fed minimally and used like animals. I have been to at least two slave museums in Lagos.

Even if my forefathers sold those slaves, was that also part of the contract? What were the terms and conditions? They didn't. They were outmanouerverd and manipulated with guns, singlets, silver bling bling, etc.

So why should I FEEL BAD for what I didn't do when I still have my own sins to brood over?


Abegii, the REAL PEOPLE who should f3eel bad including thier current generations have used style to shift the blame whereas THEY ENTERED THE SHIP WITH ONLY ONE AIM IN MIND: TO ENSLAVE.

Why did I type all these stories? EXTREMELY LOW Self -esteem/self confidence IS STOPPING SO MANY AFRICANS from focusing and achieving something.

Even some of our leaders have it thats why they steal so much money to compensate.

Iolo:
Our ancestors were definitely corrupt and greedy. Without both there wuda bin no slavery in the first place. Cause everybody would have stOod their ground and said No.

The white's were not taking our people by force, slaves were sold for foreign goods.