POS Operators Express Worry Over Service Hike
Some Point of Sales (PoS) operators in Nigeria have protested against the increased service charges in the country which took effect on Monday.
The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria had announced new service charges for operators in June.
The new service charges implied that Nigerians who want to deposit N1,000 and N4,900 would now have to pay a service charge of N100; N5,000 and N10,900 will attract a service charge of N200; N11,000 and N20,900 will attract a service charge of N300; N21,000 and N30,900 will attract a service charge of N400; N31,000 and N40,900 will attract a service charge of N500 and from N41,000 to N50,000 will attract a service charge of N600.
For withdrawals up to N1,000 and N2,400, Nigerians will pay a service charge of N100; withdrawal from N2,500 to N4,000 will incur a service charge of N200; withdrawal from N4,100 to N6,400 will incur a service fee of N300; withdrawal from N6,100 to N7,400 will now attract a service charge of N400; withdrawal from N7,500 to N10,900 will incur a service charge of N500; withdrawal from N11,000 to N14,400 will attract a service charge of N600; withdrawal from N14,500 to N17,900 will be subject to a service charge of N700 and withdrawal from N18,000 to N20,000 will now attract a service charge of N800.
This development has, however, been described as outrageous and anti-people by the operators under the umbrella of Concerned POS Operators in Nigeria.
A representative of the Association in an interview with newsmen said, “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.”
The group also called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to review the cashless policy and increase the withdrawal limit for PoS operators and mobile money agents via the ATM counter, and other channels.
