In light of the rise in service fees levied by POS agents, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has taken action.
The central bank said it is in contact with the POS companies and is trying to work out a solution.
In an interview with the Guardian, CBN Director of Corporate Communications Isah AbdulMumin confirmed that the central bank is aware of POS agents’ plans to raise transaction fees. At CBN, we sympathize with their predicament. We are working with them to develop solutions since we understand the difficulties they face.
Despite the fact that the CBN insisted it had not authorized the agents’ service charge increases, the operators justified the hikes by citing the poor business climate.
The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) has reportedly announced a new pricing structure, to go into effect on July 17, 2023, as reported by Information Nigeria.
There will be a N100 fee for withdrawals between N1,000 and N2,400, and a N200 fee for withdrawals between N3,500 and N4,000.
Up until the withdrawal amount reaches between N18,000 and N20,000, a fee of N800 will be assessed.
As with withdrawals, there is a sliding scale of fees applied on deposits, with the first N1,000 to N4,900 costing N100 and the next N41,000 to N50,000 costing N600.
Many Nigerians, especially those living in rural areas and dependent on PoS agents for fast withdrawals and deposits, are worried about the newly announced fees.
The Chairman of the Concerned POS Operators in Nigeria, Kayode Salako, has spoken out against the fee increase, saying that it will cause additional hardship for many people in Nigeria.
“While we agree that the new cashless and fuel subsidy removal policies have greatly affected businesses, we think the best thing, for now, is for the association to fight for how to make business easy for agents and the masses by fighting for some preference from the government to at least let the PoS operators have access to cash if it would take the bank to increase their daily withdrawal limit,” said Salami.
Results showed that operators had implemented the increased fees elsewhere in Nigeria, but not in Abuja, the nation’s capital, or Lagos State, the commercial hub.
POS clerk Favour Asagwara in Lagos State’s Abule-Egba region confirmed that the previous service rates were still in effect.
Nothing has changed; N100 still buys N5,000; N200, N10,000; N300, N15,000; N400, N20,000; and so on. According to her, the price hike hadn’t occurred since the introduction of the new naira policy.
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