The number of Point of Sales (PoS) machines deployed by merchants and individuals across Nigeria rose to 2.7 million in March this year.
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) disclosed this in the latest electronic payment data recently released.
This represents a 50% increase year on year when compared with the number of deployed terminals in the same period last year, which was 1.8 million.
The March 2024 figure indicated that a total of 864, 753 new PoS terminals have been deployed in the last year.
However, the figure for deployed PoS is still lower than the total registered terminals.
According to the NIBSS data, a total of 3.730 million PoS machines had been registered across the country as of March 2024, which shows that a total of 1.04 million terminals are either yet to be deployed or have become inactive.
PoS transactions
The value of transactions over PoS terminals in Nigeria has been growing consistently over the years. However, data for March 2024 shows that there was a decline when compared with last year’s figure.
According to NIBSS data, PoS transactions value for March stood at N961.8 billion. This shows a 16.5% decline compared with the N1.15 trillion recorded in March 2023.
However, the record in March last year, when the PoS value hit an all-time high is attributable to the unusual cash scarcity at the period, which forced many Nigerians to embrace electronic transactions.
Aside from the 2023 cash scarcity, the growth of PoS transactions in Nigeria is being driven by many factors, part of which include rapid adoption by merchants for receiving payments.
PoS is also bridging the gap created by the shortage of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) deployed by banks, as many Nigerians now withdraw through PoS agents.
More insights
Meanwhile, the over 1.9 million PoS operators in the country are currently battling with a new directive that requires them to register their business with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) by July 7 this year. Many of the operators, who are small businesses are worried that the registration is putting their business under undue pressure.
The National General Secretary of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN), Elegbede Oluwasegun, said PoS operators have decided to take legal action to challenge the legality of the directive.
However, the Registrar-General of the CAC, Hussaini Magaji, said the registrations is in line with the legal requirements and the directives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According to him, the action was equally backed by Section 863, Subsection 1 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA 2020 as well as the 2013 CBN guidelines on agent banking.
He added that the registration is aimed at safeguarding the businesses of fintechs and customers, as well as strengthening the economy.