PayPal Extends Payment Services to Nigeria Starting Tomorrow

PayPal is entering Nigeria this week, providing online payment alternatives for consumers via mobile phones or PCs.

Nigeria had been shut out of the payment system due to reports it is a market fraught with financial fraud. However, starting on Tuesday, consumers in Nigeria, which has 60 million users and has Africa's largest population, will be able to make payments through PayPal.

Rupert Keeley, the executive in charge of the EMEA region of PayPal, the payments unit of eBay Inc, made this announcement today.

"PayPal has been going through a period of reinvention, refreshing many of its services to make them easier to use on mobile (phones), allowing us to expand into fast-developing markets."

Once the services go live, customers in Nigeria with access to the Web and a bank card authorized for Internet transactions will be able to register for a PayPal account and make payments to millions of sites worldwide. According to Reuters;

Initially, PayPal is only offering "send money" services for consumers to pay for goods and services at PayPal-enabled merchant sites while safeguarding their financial details. This is free to consumers and covered by fees it charges merchants.

"We think we can give our sellers selling into this market a great deal of reassurance," said Keeley, a former regional banking executive with Standard Chartered Plc and senior executive with payment card company Visa Inc.

PayPal does not yet cover peer-to-peer transactions, which allow consumers to send money to other consumers. It has not yet enabled local merchants in the new markets to receive payments, nor is it offering other forms of banking services, he said.