Over 50 percent PoS operators down tools over worsening naira scarcity

This development was revealed by the National Chief Aggregating Officer of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Hussein Olanrewaju, who also confirmed that over 50% of the PoS, vendors have all locked shop due to the shortage of both the new and old notes.

Recall the past few weeks have been a terrible one for Nigerians across the country as both the CBN and commercial banks have each pointed accusing fingers at each other over the scarcity.

While the CBN had hammered the banks and accused them of hoarding the cash, the banks had accused the CBN of not giving them enough money to go around. This led to the introduction of the cash swap program, a means to deal directly with the grassroots by using POS agents.

While this was viewed as a good step by the bank, the exorbitant charges by the PoS vendors still failed to get Nigerians to patronize the POS agents.

In some POS agents visited recently, customers were made to pay as high as N1000 to withdraw 5,000 while others also charged as high as N3000 to withdraw N10,000 - N20,000.

While giving their own side of the story, the POS agents mentioned that they also found it very difficult to get cash from the backs and in some instances, they were made to part with some money before they can get cash.

Olanrewaju further stated that to make matters convenient for agents, they should be giving preferential treatment and access to the new notes, as some Nigerians had taken advantage of the situation to charge unreasonable fees.

He said, “Operators are licensed bodies that provide platforms which agents leverage on. Currently, agents do not have any preferential treatment to deliver this service, hence, more than 50 percent of agent shops have been closed down as we speak.

He added that including more agents remained the best solution to easing the financial stress Nigerians were currently facing.