E-Financial
CBN to Create Hot Spots to for Financial Inclusion
Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the apex bank will partner some satellite system companies to boost international telecommunication services in the country by creating hot spots.
Sanusi, who disclosed this at a meeting with a World Economic Forum Group in Abuja on Tuesday, said that the synergy would enhance implementation of financial inclusion in Nigeria.
The focus of the meeting was “Promoting Global Financial Inclusion: Overcoming Key Barriers through Public–Private Collaboration.’’
NAN reported that Sanusi identified lack of infrastructure as a major challenge to the implementation of the policy.
He said that the least expensive way of deploying products was technology, but said that the low level of internet penetration around the country remained a problem.
He also said that excessive reliance on telephone companies in the country had its problems “because in this country, telecommunication companies make a lot of money from Small Message Service (SMS)”.
“But, the incentives to invest in order to have a bandwidth are limited unless it has additional commercial values.
“So, we have to figure out something and for example, one of the things we have figured out is to see if we can use some of the satellite companies to drop internet across the country”.
According to him, the idea is to have internet services in each of the 774 local government headquarters in the country and to create hot spots.
The hot spots, he said, would help to create internet cafe, mobile agents, Point of Sales (POS) operations, Automated Teller Machines (ATM) operation, among others.
The apex bank governor said that financial inclusion would not be achieved without strong financial literacy and education to help people to take decisions on personal financial issues.
On efforts of the bank to ensure financial inclusion through Cashless policy, he said that there had been continuous progress with the policy.
“The simple example is on the POS; we started with 11,000 terminals in the entire Lagos area with less than 6,000 active POS terminals and were doing transactions of N5 million to N10 million per day.
“Today, we have got more than 150 thousand POS terminals in Lagos; about 20 per cent of them are active and we are doing between N1billion and N2.5 billion on POS transactions daily,’’ he said
Sanusi said that there had been general reduction in cash transactions in the country and that banks would strive to harmonise the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) policy to capture persons that were excluded in the banking system.
“A major bottleneck in the phase of financial inclusion is the identification of customers with a unique ID; I don’t know what it is in other countries, but here it is serious,’’ he said.
According to him, without proper identification, there will be a limit to the amount of money that can be given to a customer for doing business.
He said that the CBN would, on February 14, 2014, officially launch the second phase of the biometric project, adding that the contract had been awarded and that work on it was ongoing.
He said that the biometric project was to ensure that every customer of a bank, a micro finance company or any other financial system, was captured on a central data-base.
“Once a customer has been captured and the finger prints taken, he will need no form of identity to collect or to pay cash anywhere in the country,” Sanusi said.
The naira appreciated to N1,600 per dollar in the parallel market at the close of trading hours on Monday, strengthening from N1,610 per dollar recorded over the weekend.
Similarly, the naira saw a slight gain in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), trading at N1,605 per dollar compared to N1,606 last Friday, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This represents a marginal N1 appreciation.
As a result, the gap between the parallel market and official exchange rate widened slightly to N5 per dollar, up from N4 over the weekend.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spent N315.18bn on currency issue expenses in 2024, marking a sharp increase of 306 per cent compared to N77.67bn recorded in 2023, the apex bank’s audited financial statement for the year has shown.
Currency issue expenses cover the printing, processing, distribution, and disposal of banknotes.
The latest figures reveal that the CBN’s cost of managing physical cash spiralled dramatically during the year under review, as Nigeria grappled with lingering cash shortages and disruptions in the money supply chain.
The surge in expenditure came as the country continued to deal with the effects of the naira redesign policy introduced in late 2022.
Despite efforts to stabilise cash circulation throughout 2023, Nigerians still faced queues at ATMs and difficulties in accessing cash in early and late 2024.
Faced with mounting public outcry, the CBN deployed several emergency measures to address the crisis.
Deposit Money Banks were directed to ensure consistent ATM loading and rural cash distribution, while the Bank also launched public hotlines for citizens to report cash scarcity incidents.
Also, the CBN ramped up enforcement efforts, including deploying monitoring teams, issuing sanctions against non-compliant banks, and mandating improved cash distribution.
PalmPay, a full-service digital bank, has reaffirmed its dedication to advancing the future of payments in Nigeria by promoting the widespread adoption of contactless-enabled payment terminals.
This was made known during the recently concluded BusinessDay Future of Payment Conference, themed “Fintech Evolution: Gateway to Payments.” In his welcome address, BusinessDay Publisher, Frank Aigbogun, emphasized that the next phase of fintech innovation must be driven not only by speed, safety, and simplicity but also by trust, inclusion, and accessibility to ensure broad-based impact across all segments of society.
Talking about PalmPay’s impact in the panel session titled “The Next Wave of Digital Payments: Trends and Innovation,” Ifeanyi Uzoka, Senior Business Development Manager at PalmPay, discussed the evolving landscape of digital payments in Nigeria.
He noted that while regulatory frameworks have supported the introduction of contactless payments, the high level of cash dependency remains a key barrier to widespread adoption.
“At PalmPay, financial inclusion is central to everything we do,” Uzoka stated. “To support this mission, we’ve launched contactless-enabled debit and premium cards, ensuring our users have access to convenient and secure payment experiences. We also understand that trust is critical, which is why all contactless transactions on PalmPay’s platform include an additional layer of authentication for enhanced security.”
PalmPay continues to lead innovation in Nigeria’s digital finance ecosystem by delivering secure, user-friendly, and future-ready solutions. The company’s recently launched debit and premium cards in partnership with Verve are now serving its growing base of over 35 million users nationwide.
This move into contactless payments underscores PalmPay’s alignment with global payment trends and its ongoing commitment to building a more inclusive and digitally empowered economy.
FG Launches Virtual Privacy Academy
Zamfara, Oracle Partner to Drive Digital Skills Development
Gov. Mbah Tasks Youths to Embrace Technology as Enugu Tech Festival Opens
Power Ministry, NAEC Partner to Unlock Nuclear Energy Potential
SeerBit, Spectranet Unveil ExpressPay to Simplify Broadband Payments
E-Business2 days agoFirm Finds Leaked Netflix, Roblox and Discord Accounts Registered on Corporate emails
E-Financial3 days agoCBN Spending on Naira Printing, Distribution up by 306 Percent
News3 days agoABoICT Lecture 2025 to Focus on Governance, Standardization in Artificial Intelligence Era
E-Business3 days agoNDPC, Mastercard Partner to Strengthen Data Protection
Telecom3 days agoHow MTN Employees Are Driving Social Change Through the Power of Corporate Volunteerism
Telecom2 days agoSophos Warns of the Risk of Data Theft as Chinese Cars Flood France
E-Financial3 days agoPalmPay Reaffirms Commitment to Advancing Contactless Payments
Telecom2 days agoHow Emerging Technologies Are Reshaping Trade – NITDA DG