Why Nigerians are Going for PoS Transactions

Nigerians are gradually disowning cheque transactions as Point of Sale (PoS) transactions rose to N13.67 trillion in three years, data obtained from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc has shown.

The data revealed that the aggregate PoS transactions between January 2019 and November 2021 stood at N13.67tn while total cheque transactions within the same period was N10.67tn.

As of 2019, the value of cheque transactions in Nigeria stood at N4.48tn, while the value of PoS transactions totalled N3.21tn. In 2020, the value of cheque transactions slipped to N3.27tn while the value of PoS transactions rose to N4.73tn.

Between January and November 2021, the value of cheque transactions dropped further to N2.92tn. On the other hand, the value of PoS transactions rose to N5.73tn.

According to the report, before 2019, cheque transactions were worth N5.04tn while PoS transactions were worth a mere N2.32tn in 2018.

It was disclosed that the increase in PoS transactions is being driven by Lagos, Federal Capital Territory, Rivers, Oyo, and Delta states, with these states leading transaction volumes.

To this effect, Investors king decided to move around the capital city of one of the states, Ibadan, Oyo State, to ask questions about why PoS is gaining the fancy of the people.

The first respondent who simply identified himself as Tade, a PoS operator, said people are embracing PoS because of the ease that comes with it. “Using PoS does not stress you out like you will be when you are doing transactions either with ATM or cheque. Here you simply come, do what you want to do and go. No queue and all those bank queue dramas will not be there,” he ended.

Another respondent, Toba prefers PoS because he is tired of the attitude of banks towards their customers. “Some of these banks have six or seven ATMs but they will only load either one or two with money. Then about one hundred persons will be waiting to use one ATM. In this life I don’t like stress so I just find the nearest PoS operator, collect what I want to collect and get back to whatever I am doing,” he said.

“Carrying cash around these days is kind of dangerous. We all know what is happening in the country. So personally, these days, I order things online or buy whatever I want to buy using PoS.” Mr Teniola said. When asked what he does when the person he is buying from does not have PoS, he said he can transfer through USSD or Mobile App or look for a close PoS operator from where he can withdraw money.

A female respondent, Ronke, said she only uses PoS when there is no hope with normal bank. She disclosed that the extra amount that they always remove complicates things for her.