Some students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on Friday lauded the use of a mobile application for payment of transport fare in and out of the university main campus in Akoka, Lagos.

The students, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES in separate interviews, said the introduction of Gona application has eased payments of transport fare for the students and other members of the university community.

The Gona application is used prominently by bus drivers plying the Yaba-UNILAG route.

Bimbo Adams, a student of the faculty of education, said the app makes it easy to pay transport workers without controversies associated with transport fare collection.

“From Yaba to Unilag, the fare is N70. Often, people always have problem with change but Gona has reduced that,” she said.

Another student, Rilwan Ajao, said the arguments that often come up between students and commercial shuttle drivers have been eliminated with the introduction of the app.

“These day, you don’t need to fight any driver as the app makes it easy to pay with ease and convenience.”

Another student, Alice, however complained that she does not make use of the app because she could not run it on her phone. She enjoined the designers of the app to upgrade it so it could be run on as many devices as possible.

Gona prides itself as a leading provider of mobile payments, offering scalable mobile payments solutions for merchants and consumers in Nigeria. PREMIUM TIMES observes that the introduction of the application has made easy access to financial services among students, thus facilitating financial inclusion.

The World Bank identifies financial inclusion as an enabler for 7 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.