From earning over N130,000 monthly to making nothing, PoS operators lament Naira scarcity

Prior to the Naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the area of Alagbole, Ogun State, was saturated with Point of Sale (PoS) operators, from left to right side of the road, you can count at least 20 mobile money agents.

However, their kiosks have now been overrun by dust and cobwebs, deserted by customers due to the scarcity of new Naira notes and the phasing out of the old banknotes on February 10, 2023.

Although before the deadline, PoS operators benefited from the chaos that greeted the Naira redesigned policy after the scarcity of Naira increased demands for their service.

In response to the scarcity, some PoS operators hiked the withdrawal charge from N100 for N5,000 withdrawals to N1,000 fee for N5,000 withdrawals, as they looked to profit from the scarcity.

Chain of corruption exploiting the desperation of Nigerians

Market women and others in the cash-driven informal trade sector took advantage of the scarcity, opting to sell the cash received from customers to PoS operators, setting off a chain of corruption.

“PoS business is now encouraging corruption in the sense that the money is being bought and sold,” a PoS operator and provision store owner, Lasis Moromoke Taiwo, told Ripples Nigeria.

Taiwo stated: “Naira scarcity is affecting some PoS business positively in the sense that some market women/men are doing the business (selling cash) to support their business, so in this case of Naira scarcity, since they have the money, they are charging the same big interest and making more profit.”

She said initially, the market women hand them the cash for free in exchange for it to be transferred to their accounts, but since the scarcity, greed has set in, “I mean some market women were willingly giving the money before so that we will use it and credit the money to their account without adding any kobo, but now, they will sell it for you with big interest so that PoS attendant will also add big interest to make profit. This is a great corruption affecting the (sic) whole Nigerians.”

Another PoS operator, who works around FourGate Hotel in Alagbole, who spoke in Yoruba, on condition of anonymity, to Ripples Nigeria – but translated – echoed Taiwo’s assertion saying, “And those that have the cash don’t want to drop it without you paying them.

“Even if you meet someone at the bank that intends to deposit, the person will ask for payment because the person knows you want to use it.”

But the gains in the exploitation were not for long, as the scarcity hit the mobile money agents as well, ending their source of income.

PoS operators lament impact of Naira scarcity on business

Taiwo and some mobile money agents chose to suspend their PoS business until they can access cash from affordable sources like banks instead of buying the currency from a third-party to sell at an exorbitant fee.

In a discussion with another PoS operator who chose to speak on condition of anonymity, she revealed that for over two weeks, her PoS business has been shut down, losing about N130,000 she earns monthly, as her daily profit is around N5,000.

“Even N1,000 I’ve not made,” she said, adding that prior to the Naira scarcity issue “Sometimes I withdraw N300 (thousand), N400 (thousand), N500 (thousand), so it depends on that week. And it’s weekly I go to bank,” but she can no longer withdraw, because her bank always informs her no money on ground.

However, she must now depend on her provision store like Taiwo, who said, “Naira scarcity affects the PoS business in many ways. PoS business is basically on naira so definitely without money the business can not continue.”

Read also:Police warns against attacks on banks during naira scarcity protest

The PoS operator around FourGate Hotel said, “It affects, because, for a person like me, when they said go to the bank, collect maybe N100,000 or N50,000, but we couldn’t get anything.”

She said she can’t charge her customers N1,000 for withdrawal, that’s why she suspended her business until there’s an affordable source, as her customers will not be willing to patronise her after the scarcity is over, “…if I am able to get money from the ATM, maybe N10,000 (or) N5,000, I will manage it, do you understand? But to do business by fire by force, I don’t do that.”

Government intervention needed to save PoS business

With profit dropping by as much as 90 per cent or even 100 per cent, mobile money agents are calling for the intervention of the government to save their businesses.

Taiwo pleaded that more cash should be made available because the PoS business would not exist without it. She said PoS operators should not be included in the withdrawal limit of N10,000 or N20,000 daily, to reduce the need of people going to the bank, but instead patronise them.

She also stated that the benefit of increasing supply to mobile money agents is that charges will drop significantly to what they used to be.

“The only thing government can do to help the PoS business is to make the money available in the banks.

“The cashless policy of collecting only 10k (N10,000) or 20k (N20,000) should be limited to ordinary customers in the banks not PoS attendants, we should be able to enter the bank anytime and collect any amount so that the business will be going fine.

“The people who are in need of money urgently will be able to go to PoS and collect it without stress.

“Of course, if the money is surplus the charges will reduce and will affect the profit but at the same time, customers will prefer to go to PoS instead of going to the bank and queue for a very long period and the higher the customers, the higher will be the profit.”

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