Guardian

STAKEHOLDERS in the nation’s financial sector have formed a body to help government and telecommunications operators develop industry standards and modalities for the advancement of mobile financial services in the country.

The move was sequel to the plan by Central Bank f Nigeria (CBN) to engage small and medium firms as consultants for its mobile payment project.

Speaking at the lunching of the Association of Licensed Mobile Payment Operators (ALMPO) in Lagos, the CBN Director of Banking and Payments Systems, Dipo  Fatokun, represented by the Head of Monitoring and Assessment Office of the Apex bank, Shola Agboola  said the acceptance  of mobile payments  by the Nigerian public  had  grown  to  over N64 billion  in transactions  reported by  the licensed companies  in less than two years  of operation, of which half of those transactions happened  between January and April this year.

He stated that the establishment of an organisation such as this, is critical in the early stages of any industry’s growth and the CBN is in support of this move.

“The outlook for mobile payments in Nigeria is extremely positive so we see that the growth is accelerating and with the launching of this Association, it is expected that the industry will be more effective in discharging its responsibilities.’’

Fatokun noted that  by creating  a forum  for better collaboration  between  CBN, the licensed mobile  payments operators  as well as  the stakeholders the Association will  inspire  a greater  confidence  in alternative  payment channels and thereby generate greater  usage  of mobile  payments.

Chairman of the newly formed Association, Dare Owolabi stated that the body would put the future of mobile payments industry on a clear and firm footing and an independent body comprising of all licensed stakeholders is the first logical step.

“We will tackle the critical short -time projects and as well work to create aid that will benefit the industry long-term of course all this will involve working closely with the CBN, inputting on payments policy and promoting activities that will facilitate co-operation among stakeholders in various ecosystem”.

Owolabi expressed confidence that ALMPO will help create sustainable framework to aid the growth of the payments industry and help Nigeria to achieve efficiencies coming from the reduced of physical cash.