Nigeria’s economists Dr. Ayo Teriba and Bismarck Rewane, have commended the introduction of a massive, nationwide, collaborative mobile money agent network in the country by Globacom in partnership with licenced mobile money operators.
Glo Xchange, described by the Central Bank of Nigeria as Nigeria (CBN’s) biggest mobile money super agent network, was launched by Globacom in partnership with FirstMonie, Stanbic IBTC, Ecobank and Zenith Bank, the telco said in a statement.
Dr. Teriba who is Chief Executive Officer, Economic Associates spoke during the launch of the platform noted that while Mobile Money service has been in Nigeria for over three years, it has failed to grow as expected because of certain reasons, including lack of an efficient and expansive agent network. This lack of a viable and massive agent network has therefore limited its benefits to the economy, especially in terms of job creation.
“Usually for such a service as mobile money, the bigger the network, the higher the chances of an explosion, and by extension, the bigger the benefits accruable to all the stakeholders, from the banks down to the customers,” he said. He added that Glo Xchange, with the nationwide network of agents as unveiled by Globacom, is just the ingredient the industry has been waiting for.
Globacom is currently building a nationwide network for Glo Xchange which consists of 150 Gloworld and Glozone outlets, over 35,000 Glo dealer and sub-dealer outlets, 450 Conoil Stations and over 7000 outlets of the members of the Association of Community Pharmacy of Nigeria, in addition to all the branches of the partner banks or mobile money operators.
Dr Teriba noted that the potential for growth for the initiative is immense as the platform is open to other banks to plug into. He implored Nigerians looking for employment opportunities to see the avenues created by the initiative and utilise them for self-enhancement.
Mr. Rewane, Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, who also spoke during the launch of the initiative, said it is consistent with the CBN’s policy thrust of developing and sustaining an efficient payment system that will drive an increase in the velocity of money and consequently, stimulate economic growth.
He described Nigeria as a mineral-rich and commodity-dependent economy with a nominal GDP of $510billion. According to him, it is 12 times the size of Kenya’s economy which has profited massively from mobile money service. He said Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa and 26th largest in the world.
Rewane said, however, that the economy is largely cash-based, a situation which he said constitutes a barrier to rapid growth. He said therefore that, initiatives such as Glo Xchange that help to enhance the cashless policy of the CBN, or that help to improve the velocity of money is bound to have a resounding positive impact on economic growth.
