Nigerian mobile payment service Paga has surpassed one million users, according to its website.
Paga, founded in 2009, works with banks, mobile operators and retailers to deliver mobile payment solutions.
Visitors to the Paga website are currently greeted with a banner announcing it has hit the one million user milestone, although the company does not give details on how many are active on the platform regularly.
HumanIPO reported in October the service had partnered with bus.com.ng to provide another payment option as well as joining forces with Nigerian e-commerce site Jumia this month.
Mobile money and payment has been relatively slow to catch on in Nigeria compared to the success the concept has had in Kenya, most notably with Safaricom’s M-Pesa.
Regulatory control of mobile money in Nigeria prevents network operators from launching their own services, who therefore have to rely on partnering with a third party.
HumanIPO reported from AfricaCom 2013 in Cape Town last week that Val Amadi, senior manager of network rollout for Etisalat Nigeria, believed for mobile money to reach the masses the networks needed to be given more freedom to and power in the sector.
Compared to Kenya, where 40 per cent of the population was using M-Pesa accounts three years after it launched, only five per cent of Nigerians were using mobile money three years after services became available in that country.
Vytas Paukstys, chief executive officer at social network Eskimi, said social media could be the catalyst for mobile money in West Africa.
Speaking at AfricaCom 2013 last week, he said: “Obviously something is very wrong in Nigeria and that is to do with the education around mobile money.
“Mobile money rollout has to include social media. When M-Pesa was launched this was not relevant, but now it is the best chance.”
