Nigeria’s Cashless Policy: Paying Bills With Paga 

Joining Paga opens your mind and your information bank to data you didn’t know you needed. When asked by a friend why you rather book a ride with a card than cash, what is your  first response? 

I usually respond with, I feel safer not holding cash but the Nigeria circumstance often makes it impossible for me to go 100% cashless. A few days ago, I followed the Paga Group CEO, Tayo Oviosu for an interview and he said “ Cash is still king in Nigeria with 90% transactions still done in cash, this is still a big issue and a big opportunity.” 

In the year 2011, the Central Bank of Nigeria introduced the cashless policy initiative. The new policy on cash-based transactions stipulates a cash handling charge on daily cash withdrawals that exceed N500,000 for Individuals and N3,000,000 for Corporate bodies. The aim was to reduce the amount of physical cash circulating in the economy, and encouraging more electronic-based transactions (payments for goods, services, transfers, etc.)

The goal of the government was to drive development and modernization of our payment system in line with Nigeria’s vision 2020 goal of being amongst the top 20 economies by the year 2020. An efficient and modern payment system is positively correlated with economic development, and is a key enabler for economic growth.

To reduce the cost of banking services (including cost of credit) and drive financial inclusion by providing more efficient transaction options and greater reach. and improve the effectiveness of monetary policy in managing inflation and driving economic growth.

Although many believe  the policy came too early, at Paga we believe there is never a right time for change and we need to begin to see change as an opportunity to grow and innovate. With the new policy high risk of using cash  reduced drastically as the need to hold large sums of money was drastically reduced and this is where Paga came in. It is important to note that bill payments also became a lot easier to transact with companies like DSTV, EKDC, GOTV, MTN, GLO and lots more companies digitizing their payment system.

Paga is a mobile money application that is geared towards making it possible for 1 billion people to access and use money. Our goal is to create an ecosystem that enables people to digitally send and receive money, and deliver financial services to everyone. We have no where scratched the surface but we celebrate the 17million plus people already transacting with Paga and are grateful for the 29 thousand plus agents out in a street near you helping us reach more people.

At Paga we are innovative and we are innovative because we have people like you who ask for more, who want more and that is why we continually create features that we know will benefit all our users. Currently on Paga you can send and receive money, request for money, pay your bills, buy credit and data, create shortcuts for recurring payments  and lots more, all you have to do is have money in your e wallet.

With over 25 bouquet option available on Paga for DSTV and GOTV users ranging from the Box Office Nigerian STB at ₦650 to thePremium at ₦18,400 and for all the French speaking people the Premium French Bonus + HD/Extraview at ₦28,050, Nigerians can easily subscribe. To all the football lovers out there and Big Brother Naija Fans there is also a package for you on Paga. We didn’t forget you, for all our MYTV family, you can subscribe for the My TV ACDC at just 3,500 on Paga.

Apart from cable subscriptions, you can also buy credit and data from Paga, also you get a 2% instant cashback with every data and airtime purchase on your 9mobile, Airtel, MTN and Glo line. Are you in Kaduna or Jos or Abuja or anywhere in Nigeria and you need to pay your electricity bill? Paga has over 20 listed electricity and water utility companies.

Are you in doubt about Paga? We have got you covered, download your Paga app on the Google Playstore or App Store to join the Paga community.

b. MYTV- discuss subscription options and a few interesting channels available. c. Startimes- SEO shows many people are searching for startimes subscription. Taking advantage of this, we should explicitly state all startimes opinions and and give a call to action (we’d link the necessary page)