As the number of mobile phone keeps increasing on daily basis, at least 24 million Nigerians are now doing banking transactions through their mobile phones, National Mirror was told.

The 24 million Nigerians, it was learnt, perform their bank­ing transactions through cash-in and cash-out pay bills, do fund transfer as well as buy airtime through their mobile phones.

It has been estimated that there are over 120 million mobile phone users and with a lot of funds running into trillions of Naira trapped outside the bank­ing system. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in a bid to bring the unbanked Nigerians into the banking system, launched mobile money framework in 2009, so that people can conduct their bank­ing transaction through mobile phones.

Speaking at the ongoing work­shop organised by the Nigeria Deposit of Insurance Corpora­tion, NDIC, for Business Editors and Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria, FICAN, in Ilorin, Kwara state, the Direc­tor, Banking & Payments System Department, CBN, Mr. Dipo Fa­tokun, said the aforementioned amount was the total value of transactions accrued from the 21 registered Mobile Money Opera­tors (MMOs), carrying out com­mercial operations in the country.

Fatokun, who was represent­ed by Assistant Director, Bank­ing Payments Systems Depart­ment CBN, Mr. Olusola Agboola, noted that the total number of agents enrolled under the mo­bile money initiative was 98,158 with 76,952,409 total volume of transactions recorded under this platform, noting that eight other MMOs are at various stages of pilot run and could, in a shortest time, commence commercial op­eration.