COVID-19 has been spitting its venom since 2019. The pandemic has covered the earth, permeating every country, every home and every industry and rendering businesses comatose. Hard hit are the brick and mortal event organisers and owners of the quick service restaurants [QSR]. The QSR are retail outlets that serve fast food cuisines such as ice cream and pizza and has minimal table service. How pizza found its way onto our menu is another story for another day.
However, hit by the coronavirus crisis, the QSRs are forced to observe the no contact protocol at their outlets. Because of this, the outlets now offer mobile service delivery as a means to quench the insatiable pizza appetite of many Nigerians. To access the pizza service delivery, you need to order online and pay via a bank transfer, debit card or credit card. As few Nigerians order pizza online and pay using mobile payment, the method adds to the online payment traffic.
You are right to assume that this method of payment has placed Nigeria on the list of countries that are deepening the usage of mobile payment in Africa. No, it does not. Nigeria is not on the list at all. That singular honour goes to Kenya – the home of mobile money or M-PESA. Tech Weez informed that on March 31, 2020, the number of registered mobile money subscriptions in Kenya was 29.1 million with Safaricom holding a 98.8% market share. Thirteen years after launch, M-PESA has become a Kenyan stable. It is now symbiotic with the Kenyan economy. It is impossible to run a business in Kenya without M-PESA.
This shows that many Nigerians have mobile devices like the Kenyans but Nigerians do not use their devices for mobile money.
M-PESA’s success has firmly planted Kenya on the world map. The service is considered one of Africa’s greatest success stories. It is popular. It is robust. It is constantly being updated. It is evolving. M-PESA is much larger now as a service than it has ever been. It has several unique utilities including Lipa na M-PESA, a utility that allows customers to pay for goods and services through M-PESA, which has seen wide adoption through the country’s businesses.
M-PESA’s popularity and accrued loyalty are so sound that people continue to use it and refuse to try other services even if they are cheaper. Following this high adoption rate, the Central Bank of Kenya recently put in place measures to promote mobile money transactions. Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, it has stated that there will be no charge for mobile money transactions up to 1000 Kenyan shilling. But the current tariff for transactions above 70,000 Kenyan shillings will remain.
In addition to the above, there will be no charge by Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and commercial banks for transfers between mobile money wallets and bank accounts. The measures will remain till December 2021. GeoPoll Data Output informed that Kenya is a leader in the region for mobile penetration at 95.1 per cent. Nigeria is following closely behind with a mobile phone penetration rate of 84 per cent.
This shows that many Nigerians have mobile devices like the Kenyans but Nigerians do not use their devices for mobile money. The reason for this anomaly is that Nigeria lacks the financial infrastructure that could make mobile money accessible to all Nigerians. Mobile money is a digital financial service. It allows you to use your mobile phone to gain access to financial service or to initiate a financial transaction. As such, mobile money service may include balance enquiry, storing fund in your wallet, transferring cash, and making payments using your mobile phone.
Mobile money is an important resource for Nigerians. It is safe to store fund over time. Due to the poor banking infrastructure in the country cash is still king.
“When you open an account on your mobile phone, you can receive money but you cannot make payments. You need a Bank Verification Number [BVN] to do so. Since the targets for financial inclusion are people that don’t have BVN already, some infrastructure need to be deployed, like mobile BVN”, a banker told the research firm.
Besides, what is also obvious is that majority of Nigerians who use mobile money has chosen not to use it regularly because the people they transact business with do not use mobile money. They prefer cash. This has uncovered why many Nigerians have access to mobile money and chose not to use it.
The research opined that Nigerians are connected through mobile phones. But regulations are holding back the development of an active mobile money space. Mobile money is an important resource for Nigerians. It is safe to store fund over time. Due to the poor banking infrastructure in the country cash is still king. Cash is still king.
So, to move up the ladder of the countries deploying mobile money, the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] needs to review its mobile money regulations. Allow more players to come into the field. Allow the telecommunications company to play with a string attached through relaxed regulations. Nigeria needs to study the M-PESA model. If it fits our system, let us adopt it so that we can have more payment options for more Nigerians who desire to buy pizza at QSR. This will also help the country to increase its mobile money spread as Kenya did with M-PESA.
