Nigeria’s money transfer business landscape entered a new phase today as Africa’s global bank, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, and global Money Transfer giant, MoneyGram, launched outbound money transfers in Nigeria.

The new service allows Nigerians to send money abroad through any UBA branch in Nigeria or Africa while the funds are received in dollar or the currency of the receiving country.

With this service, Nigerians can now send money to countries like UK and USA from Nigeria. While the Nigerian sends money in naira, the person receiving in UK or USA will receive it in pounds or dollars. The outbound money transfer service allows Nigerians to send money in naira to over 200 countries around the world by simply working into any UBA branch in Nigeria or in the 18 other African countries where UBA has operations outside Nigeria or through any other MoneyGram Agent Bank.

The launch event which held at UBA’s head office in Marina, Lagos, was hosted by UBA’s GMD/CEO, Phillips Oduoza, who had a live demonstration of how the service will work by sending money from Nigeria to Ghana. He sent naira, which was received in real time in Ghana cedis by the CEO of UBA Ghana. The transaction was witnessed by the media and other assembled guests both in Ghana and Nigeria via video link.

Speaking during the event, Oduoza said the new UBA and MoneyGram outbound money transfer service will boost trade and business between African countries as many Nigerians who do business across Africa, no longer have to move around with cash as they can easily transfer money to their business partners in other African countries or in China, Europe and America to pay for goods and services bought.

He described the new money transfer service which has been tagged ‘Naija Sends’ as yet another testimony to the innovative, customer-centric disposition of both UBA and MoneyGram.

“This service opens a new vista of opportunity for Nigerians to easily trade with other Africans and also trade with other parts of the world. It also offers a great platform to send money to loved ones abroad. As Africa’s global bank, we are proud to partner with MoneyGram to make this service available. It opens a whole new world of opportunities for our customers,” Oduoza said.

On her part, Regional Manager, Anglophone West Africa, MoneyGram, Mrs. Kemi Okusanya, said the launch of ‘Naija Sends’ has further deepened the brand’s reach and service in Nigeria.

“Over the last two decades MoneyGram has facilitated over 15 million transactions in Nigeria, enabling safe, convenient and reliable transfer of funds from the Nigeria Diaspora to their loved ones. As Africa’s largest economy, with over 10 million migrants, we are glad we are now able to also offer Nigerians the opportunity to send money abroad to their loved ones and for business transactions,” Mrs. Okusanya said.

“MoneyGram with over 300,000 locations in over 200 countries, partnering with UBA with over 700 business offices in 19 African countries and offices in New York, London and Paris, offers the best choice for Nigerian’s sending money abroad to loved ones,” Mrs. Okusanya stated.

MoneyGram started operation in Nigeria 16 years ago with UBA as its first Agent Bank partner. Today, the MoneyGram network includes 13 Agent Bank partners operating through nearly 5,000 locations.

•Photo shows UBA’s GMD/CEO, Phillips Oduoza.

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