Paga, NIPOST partner for financial inclusion in Nigeria
In order to try and achieve their shared goal of a Nigeria which offers financial inclusion for all, Paga and the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) recently announced a partnership which is aimed at doing just that. By combining their efforts Paga and NIPOST will make available robust financial services points at NIPOST offices across Nigeria, according to reports by ThisDay.
Through this partnership, which has been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria and forms a part of the Shared Agent Network framework, both companies will continue to expand their mobile money agent network to include post offices in all the Local Government Areas of Nigeria according Nigerian Communications Week.
The venture will be giving priority to areas where banking services are limited or otherwise difficult to access.
The initial set of services to be offered are deposits and withdrawals from bank accounts and mobile money wallets, utility bill payments, and airtime recharge for all telecom networks. The additional services, including savings and loans products, are scheduled for launch in partnership with banking partners.
Speaking on the collaboration with Paga, Mr. B.M Mukhtar, General Manager Financial Service, NIPOST said “There is a post office location within reasonable distance of almost every community in the country today, so we see an opportunity for NIPOST to play a leading role in enhancing financial inclusion for the betterment of Nigeria. For this reason, NIPOST is committed to partnering with Paga and other financial institutions to bring critical financial services such as bill payments, bank account deposits and withdrawals, loans, money transfer and more to be available at NIPOST locations nationwide. We are taking it step-by-step and have already started to see the positive impact.”
Jay Alabraba, Paga co-founder and director of business development, said that, “Our work with NIPOST is simply one of several big steps that we are leading the industry in taking, to bring financial services to all communities in Nigeria. The rollout has been on-going since the beginning of 2016, and we are very encouraged by the outcomes so far. The Central Bank provided clear guidelines for shared services such as these, and we invite banks, microfinance institutions, mobile payments providers and others to join us to reach more customers and make the scheme a success. Nigerians needs this now more than ever, so we must direct our resources wisely and make it happen.”
NIPOST and Paga joint teams work closely to ensure the commercial success of the initiative, including training and equipping of the NIPOST staff at each post office performing the transactions and other day-to-day mobile money agent operations.
Today, the Paga network comprises over 11,000 authorized mobile money agents and 6 million unique customers across Nigeria. Paga’s agent network is the largest and most active network of financial services access points in Nigeria.
