Nigeria Records N807 Billion Worth Of POS Transactions

Naira scarcity caused by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s redesign and cash withdrawal policy pushed Point of Sales transactions to N807.16 billion in January 2023.

This indicates a 40.69 per cent year-on-year increase from the N573.72 billion transactions that was recorded in January 2022.

Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, shows that total cashless transactions in Nigeria rose by 45.41 per cent year-on-year to N39.58 trillion in January 2023.

The NIBSS monitors cashless transactions through the Nigeria Instant Payment System and Point of Sales terminals.

Total NIP transactions for the period rose by 45.52 per cent from N26.65 trillion as of January 2022 to N38.77 trillion as of January 2023.

According to the NIBSS, there were 955,234 deployed PoS terminals in the country as of January 2022.

The National President, Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Victor Olojo, stated that the cashless policy has forced people to go digital.

“The cashless issue forced people to move to digital, to PoS.

"The policy contributed to that growth. People had to seek alternative channels aside from cash so this is expected.

"But this is not all from PoS withdrawals, we have merchants, businesses, and supermarkets.

"All other sectors using PoS to transact contributed to it.”

Commenting on how PoS operators have been accessing cash, he added, “Cash has also not been available to operators, most of them have shut down.

"And those who are getting cash are seeking it from other alternatives, marketplaces, filling stations, pharmacies, and they get it at a cost.”