Despite the directive by the federal government that Point of Sale (PoS) transactions charges be borne by businesses, some malls and outlets still continue to charge customers the N50 stamp duty and other charges.
According to a directive recently issued by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), PoS transactions charges imposed by the Central Bank is to be borne by businesses. As such, passing it on consumers is counterproductive, burdensome and inconsistent with the underlying cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Most filling stations in Lagos, including large supermarkets such as SPAR and Grand Square are already charging their customers the stamp duties of N50 per completed set of transactions paid using the PoS.
Also, the issue of N4 charges on the use of USSD code remains unresolved. Despite concerns that this may stifle the financial inclusion policy of the Central Bank, Bank Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)are reportedly ready to meet on the dispute surrounding the charges for use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) in the country.
Meanwhile, the value of transaction done across PoS channel in Nigeria hit N3.20 trillion in 2019 as against the N2.32 trillion recorded in 2018, statistics released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), has revealed.
Analysis of the NIBSS data shows that in January 2019,N222.9 billion worth transactions were carried out through the channel in January. However, in February, there was a big drop in the value of PoS transactions to 193.4 billion – the lowest recorded in the year.
On the other hand, the highest value of PoS transactions was recorded in December (N372.68 billion). This means between January and December 2019, PoS transactions rose by 67 per cent.
