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CBN Announces Incentives to Nigerians on Cashless Policy

By on January 23, 2012

The Central Bank has announced plans to incentivize Nigerians to embrace e-payment methods. The apex bank disclosed in a statement released Friday, that customers will not incur any service charges for using Point of Sales (POS) terminals. The bank disclosed that these charges will rather be borne by merchants, the charge payable by merchants is 1.25% of transaction fees.

However this is most likely only a psychological benefit as most merchants will probably integrate this charge in the sales price of the goods, indirectly passing them on to customers.

According to the cbn statement, “Where the merchants do not use the PoS, they will still be charged a penal fee of 20 per cent of cash transaction in excess of the cash limit policy. Merchants are also advised to recognise that there are other ways in which the PoS terminal can benefit them, such as selling other services and earning commissions.

“For instance, mobile credit can be sold through the terminals, or used to collect bill payment for firms such as the Power Holding Company of Nigeria. Also training will be provided by the acquirer’s payment terminal service provider. Part of the deployment process is to ensure a practical training on how to use the PoS for by merchant and their staff.”

Speaking on the infrastructure to power the technology, the CBN stated “In terms of infrastructure, the CBN is working with the Nigeria Communication Commission and telecoms firms to ensure that there are dedicated communication links for the PoS system.

“Also, all PoS must have a minimum of two sims such as MTN and Glo. However, this does not guarantee 100 per cent connectivity but does increase the uptime of the PoS system. In terms of power, there is a minimum of 24 hours battery life, and they can sometimes come with car chargers.”