CBN has threatened to prosecute PoS operators over exorbitant charges.
Glamtush reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele has vowed to prosecute Point-of-Sales (PoS) operators who collect exorbitant charges for transactions.
This online platform understands that Emefiele reiterated the benefits of the naira redesign, arguing that it has helped in reducing inflation and is leading to a moderation in exchange rates.
He also told the members of the corps how the nation’s economy is faring but shared concerns about increasing inflation which he attributed to insecurity, elections spending, and the effect of the global market on the economy.
According to him, the nation’s growth rate is at 3.6 percent for 2023, noting that the economy will experience what he called subdued growth owing to the scarcity of petroleum products, increased spending which is being curtailed, and increasing debt levels.
Also, the Director, Governor’s Department, CBN, Mr Joseph Omayuku, said the Central Bank of Nigeria has vowed to clamp down on Point of Sale owners, who have turned themselves into payment agents, to take advantage of members of the public.
He said this while briefing journalists in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Monday evening. According to him, the sharp practices were discovered after reviews of the implementation of the policy.
He said that these PoS operators also engage in the selling of naira notes for naira notes to buyers amidst the rejection of online payments by some business operators, including petrol stations and supermarkets.
Omayuku said, “Further reviews have indicated that it does appear as if there are fifth columnists operating in this system, and these fifth columnists, as it appears, are anybody that has PoS access. Several of them have now taken to the unfortunate activity of turning themselves to payment agents.
“So you find out that even next to petrol stations, their agents or PoS operators next to them are there who you will go to, to sell money to you and you take that money to go and buy petrol; and not just petrol stations, in short, everywhere.
“From this week, there will be very sting operations around the country. Because this (selling of naira) is the incentive. The incentive is that they can sell our currency to us, which is not supposed to be. You cannot be selling naira to us.”
He said the CBN also frowned on the exorbitant commissions on transactions that payment agents collect from customers as against the approved charges, describing their activities as fraudulent.
Omayuku further said, “The operational arrangement for payment agents is that they take a commission for transaction and this commission is not more than N100 or N200 for transaction of up to N10,000. But we have heard of cases where people are being charged N1,000 or N2,000. This is certainly fraudulent; this is rogue operation.
“The management of the CBN and the leaders of the country do not subscribe to any logic that will allow people to operate like this. So, the security agencies will be very active this week, going forward.”
He warned those engaged in illegal practices to turn a new leaf and advised members of the public to report perpetrators by contacting the CBN Contact Centre on 07002255226; Telephone Ext: 711025 – 7; contactcbn@cbn.gov.ng and its social media handles.
The CBN official also debunked claims that the existing online platforms were not effective to support large volume of economic activities, stressing that the challenges associated with the online system “are not as bad as to warrant rejection of transfer payments.”
