POS Business Booms in Nigeria As Transactions Hit Over N3 Trillion In H1 2021

Point Of Sales (POS) transactions in Nigeria surged in value to N3.01 trillion in the first half of 2021, with a total volume of 462.11 million transactions in the same period.

This was seen in a report released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) for the month of June 2021.

The data implies that more Nigerians are turning to alternative means of performing transactions, including payments and cash withdrawals.

The recent value of transactions represents a 50 percent increase when compared to the N2 trillion recorded in the same period of 2020 and a 10.3% increase against N2.72 trillion recorded in the second half of 2020.

Last year, the pandemic forced people to stay indoors, and they could no longer go to banks to make transactions. This forced many Nigerians to begin to seek alternatives, one of which was the use of POS merchants who could cater to their banking needs. Upon easing the lockdowns, many Nigerians found it stressful to even get into banks as they had to deal with an array of safety protocols. As a result, electronic transactions have become the mainstay for many Nigerians.

Aside from convenience, more Nigerians are embracing cashless transactions due to rising insecurity. Holding cash amid increasing cases of robbery, kidnapping, etc has become less appealing.

A cursory look at the data revealed that the current value of POS transactions in Nigeria represents the highest on record since 2017. In the same vein, another electronic payment channel, NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) systems also rose to its highest on record in H1 2021, from N97.29 trillion in H2 2020 to N123.38 trillion in the current review period.

However, the value of transactions has been on a steady decline since March 2021, when it hit its peak. In the month of June 2021, POS transactions declined marginally by 0.01% from N503.96 billion to N503.91 billion.

The volume of POS transactions stood at 462.11 million in the review period, representing a 66% year-on-year increase compared to 278.28 million transacted in H1 2021.