The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said that the country would realise the dream of a robust national payments system by 2020. Mr Dipo Fatokun, CBN Director, Banking and Payments System Department made the statement at a two-day EuroFinance 5th conference held in Lagos. Fatokun said that the apex bank was committed to realising a robust national payments system that would be nationally utilised and internationally recognised by 2020.
He said that the infrastructure for payments in Nigeria was undergoing a dramatic change led by the CBN initiatives such as Payment System Vision (PSV 2020). Accordingly, the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) had created world-class real time for direct debits and credits, Fatokun said. He said that a well-functioning payment system was essential for an efficient financial sector development and increased confidence in the banking sector.
Fatokun said the apex bank would continue to promote and facilitate the development of efficient and effective systems for settlements of transactions in Nigeria through enhanced regulation and introduction of new products. He said that the CBN would ensure availability of enhanced payment system without interruption that would meet the needs of all market users with minimum risks to the regulator, operators and users.
According to him, the apex bank will ensure that international standards are applied to the Nigerian payments system for global standardisation.
He said that the country had recorded great improvement in its payments system from 1998 till date with more enhanced e-payment channels. Fatokun stated that the apex bank, through the support of other stakeholders and the Federal Government, had introduced the e-payment system to other sectors of the economy that were not captured in the past. He said that transactions of farmers had been brought to the financial service system as payments of subsidy or grants for farmers were now done electronically.
Fatokun said that the growth in the payments system were being threatened by some challenges such as cyber insecurity, poor consumer protection and poor infrastructure among others. He, however, said that the apex bank would continue to work hard to surmount the challenges in the nearest future.
