Guardian

The country recorded a N38.6 billion turnover on the Point of Sales (PoS) terminals across the country within the last 12 months, from 2,078 transactions.

Besides, the country’s registered PoS terminals moved from 31,378 in January to 185,330 last month.

Disclosing these figures on Wednesday in Lagos was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc, Adebisi Shonubi, at the one-year anniversary of PoS adoption in Nigeria and the launch of two new bill payment solutions.

NIBSS, which was mandated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on November 15, 2011 to serve as the Payments Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA) for the financial industry as part of the cash-less Lagos initiative, ensured that all PoS terminals operating within connect directly to it through the NIBSS Central Terminal Management System (CTMS).

According to Shonubi, PoS transactions in the country grew by a monthly compound growth rate of 83 per cent and 89 per cent in volume and value respectively.

He said this signifies gradual acceptance and adoption of  PoS payment channels as an alternative to cash, stressing that the number of registered PoS terminals on the CTMS also increased on average of 18 per cent per month from 31,000 to 185,000 from January to November, 2012.

Indeed, the NIBSS boss, said the level of growth in PoS adoption signifies the potential for vast acceptance of the payment channels towards delivering on the CBN’s cash-less Lagos initiative, which has been successful in the promotion of e-payment platforms.

He posited that there are numerous benefits of using e-platforms to merchants and cardholders including fast and efficient service, security and convenience of payment.

“As we enter the yuletide season when spending is expected to increase, PoS transactions volumes, is also expected to experience significant growth, which would be continually monitored by NIBSS towards ensuring e-payment channels achieve the expected impact.

“Therefore, cardholders and merchants are encouraged to take advantage of the convenient, fast and safe alternative to cash by processing their payments via available PoS payment terminals during and after the festive period”, Shonubi stated.

Explaining the usefulness of the newly launched products—NIBSS e-Billspay and Automated Direct Debit (ADD), the Executive Director, Technology and Operations, Niyi Ajao, said the e-Billspay is an account-number-based, online real-time credit transfer product that enables customers to make payments by leveraging the security provided by the banks.

He said the product enables banks to provide electronic bills payment services through payment channels such as Internet Banking (iB), Mobile Banking, Kiosk among others, while leveraging on the security measures provided by these channels with a view to making payments to signed-up billers.