PUSH NEWS 24 INTERNATIONAL: July 27th, 2023
UPS FOR NIGERIANS AS GOOGLE OFFICIALLY ACCEPTS NAIRA AS A MEANS OF TRANSACTIONS
Google has partnered with Verve to make digital transactions on Google Play Store easier for Nigerians.
The firm noted that as from Wednesday, Nigerians could now use their Verve cards to make purchases on the Google Play Store.
It stated that under its new partnership, Google would process Verve transactions within Nigeria, and the transactions would be undertaken in naira and treated as local transactions by the country’s banking institutions.
Google in Nigeria – celebrating the company’s presence in Africa’s largest market, Google confirmed that the ‘Nigerian-sounding voice’ was part of its new offerings to its Nigerian users.At the event, Google also announced several new products and initiatives, including a $4m fund for African youths and an app that teaches kids how to read.
Commenting on the development, Head of Retail and Payment Partnerships, Google Play, Anthea Crawford, said, “We are thrilled to collaborate with Verve, expanding Google Play access for more Nigerians.
The introduction of local payments with Verve cards is a significant milestone, enabling more Nigerians to participate in the app economy and access the apps they need.”
The Managing Director Verve International, Vincent Ogbunude, added, “The integration with Google Play is a significant stride towards achieving Verve’s vision of promoting financial inclusion. We are excited to bring digital content and services closer to Verve cardholders, hence bridging the digital divide.”
Recall that in 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has explained the reason for the sudden disappearance of the newly launched e-naira speed wallet from Google’s play store.
The bank explained that the app’s disappearance was only temporary as it was undergoing an important upgrade aimed at tackling glitches noticed since its launch.
Director of Corporate Communications of the bank, Osita Nwanisobi, gave the explanation on Thursday in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi state.
He was speaking at a CBN Fair for the southeast geo-political zone, which held simultaneously in Ebonyi and Abịa States.
The e-Naira Speed Wallet app had gone missing from the Google Play Store just days after its launch on Monday, 25th of October 2021.
Google in Nigeria – celebrating the company’s presence in Africa’s largest market, Google confirmed that the ‘Nigerian-sounding voice’ was part of its new offerings to its Nigerian users.At the event, Google also announced several new products and initiatives, including a $4m fund for African youths and an app that teaches kids how to read.“We are here for the long-haul,” Google’s Country Manager in Nigeria, Juliet Ehimuan told journalists. “We want people to get the best out of the internet.”Google is one of the most valuable brands in the world. Founded by two Stanford University Ph.D. students in 1998, the company’s flagship product was Search. Today, people perform over 3.5 billion searches daily using Google.Its other products – Gmail, Youtube, Chrome, Maps, Translator, Android – are also used every day by billions of people. Android alone runs on more than two billion devices.For the last quarter of 2018, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, announced revenues of $31.84 billion.In Nigeria, Google is a household name, especially among young people with smartphones. For many, the company’s name is synonymous with the World Wide Web.But access to the Internet remains limited for the majority of Nigerians. In 2018, Google announced Google Station for Nigeria, a program to provide high-quality, high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots across five Nigerian cities.Google wants more Nigerians to get online and to have a valuable experience; this has shaped the trajectory of its product innovation and initiatives for Nigeria in recent years; based on the news from this year’s Google in Nigeria event, the trend is set to continue.
