N1.15trn Transactions: Why PoS Is Here For A Long Haul

The years of substance abuse and overdose have reduced the impact of drugs on some addicts. Therefore, to get a little lift, they would mix Charlie and a horse to get high impact. The combination of Charlie and the horse is dynamite. In street parlance, Charlie is cocaine; heroine is the horse. One is a depressant: It calms your gorilla. The other is a stimulant: It wakes your beast. Research shows that if you combine depressants and stimulants sign of overdose is masked. The next high you get is death.

 On The One Hand  

These drugs are accessible, available, and amenable. Adults and youths have embraced the deadly lifestyle of drug addiction. Drug abuse will destroy your dream. Drug abuse can extinguish your generation. It does not respect age. It is dangerous to all genders. If a religious sect embraces it, it will snuff out its very foundation from one generation to the next generation. Besides, the effect of drug abuse is not palatable on the economy. So, why would you get involved in these old and out-of-date drugs if they will eventually kill you? Come on. Wise up. Switch to Pos. That is the new drug.

It is not deadly. It is not addictive. It is hot. It will enhance your bank statement. Pos is legal. This new-kid-on-the-block will transport you economically beyond your imagination. That is the power of the new drug. It is more powerful than cocaine. It is cooler than heroin. It is better than black beauties. A report by ACI Worldwide said that Nigeria would witness an accelerated increase because of this drug, as it will help to generate a volume of over 7.7 billion for the economy by 2025.

Nigerians have embraced the Pos lifestyle. Lagos. Port Harcourt. Abuja. Kano. Everywhere, you will encounter Pos. The fuel stations. Supermarkets. Open markets. At the bus stops. Street corners. The Pos is a revolution backed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It is the latest religion. Nigerians worship at its altar. Why not? It is a way of making a legitimate income. No frills. No ills. No pills. All you need is a collaborator. This could be anybody willing and ready to work with you in sourcing the main ingredient. What’s the main ingredient?

The Point of Sales (Pos) terminal is a point of transaction. It usually occurs between a merchant and a customer when a product or service is purchased. Pos is used to complete the transaction. For instance, in a restaurant, when you do not carry cash but you have your card, you can make payment using a POS. Pos hardware and software. Its combination creates the Pos machine. It processes a transaction. A payment. Several agency banking kiosks are mushrooming. These kiosks are owned by merchants who offer lite banking services. At these locations, you can withdraw cash. You can transfer cash. Deposit cash. Pay bills. You can even disvirgin your new ATM card, if you are bold, you know what I mean? You can change your personal identification number. Do more.

Do not worry if the ATM in your neighbourhood is out of service. The Pos merchants are in service. Close by too. At social events, Pos merchants are ready and willing to serve you and rescue you with instant cash. The service charge is not steep. ATM charges you N65 for the third transfer third-party machine. Pos merchants charge you as low as N200 on each transfer. With the type of hybrid Pos in vogue, a power outage is not a let-down.    

On The Other Hand 

The Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) data informed that Nigeria’s electronic payment transactions have surged to N126.39 trillion in six months through Pos and NIBSS. Because of these channels, electronic payment transactions recorded a 100.86 per cent growth in value when compared to an aggregate of N62.92 trillion in 2020.

These channels are driving electronic payments to the extent that the value of Pos transactions was N2.00 trillion for the first six months of 2020. In 2021, it rose to N3.01 trillion. NIBSS Instant Payments 2020 Annual Statistics show that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the electronic payments landscape. The scourge has helped to accelerate the adoption of instant payments. Now more bank customers have adopted electronic channels for funds transfer.

PoS and NIBSS are the preferred channels with 43 per cent of total transactions in 2020. Unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) has 35 per cent of the transactions. In January, the value of NIBSS Instant Payment transactions was N18.5 trillion. In February, it was N18.3 trillion. In March the figure rose to N22 trillion. In April and May it declined to N20.7 trillion and N20.7 trillion respectively. In June it peaked at N23 trillion.

In the short term

If you have not caught the Pos bug, you are a dinosaur.

What do you mean?

The value of PoS transactions in January was N489.2 billion. In March, it was N531.4 billion and the ACI Worldwide report said we would witness an accelerated transition to digital payments over the next five years.

What do you mean?

Transaction will reach real-time volumes of 7.7 billion by the year 2025.

I am on a different drug.

What is that?

Cocaine.