Sophia Michaels
The PUNCH reports that Point of Sale agents in Lagos State are set to increase their rates.
The agents will soon begin to charge customers N500 for N10,000 cash withdrawals.
This is after the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Lagos Chapter, announced a new price list for PoS transactions on Channels Television’s Business Morning programme by the Public Relations Officer, Lagos Chapter, Stephen Adeoye, on Friday.
According to him, the association’s price list is to eradicate price discrepancies in the industry.
He said, “Let me tell you the price list, N1000–N2,400 will be N100 for withdrawal. N3500 to N4000 will be N200; N4,100 to N6,400 will be N300; N6,500 to N7,900 will be N400; N8500 to N10,900 will be N500; N11,000 to N14,000 will be N600; N14,500 to N17,900 will be N700; N18,000 to N2000 will N800 for withdrawal.
“Like we said, depending on your location, you can also step it down for people depending on the circumstances. But it should not go more than this.”
He further stated that for deposits and transfers, agents can now charge N100 for N1,000 to N4,900; N200 for N5000 to N10,900; N300 for N11,000 to N20,900; N400 got N21,000 to N30,900; N500 for N31,000 to N40,000; and N600 for N41,100 to N50,000.
Adeoye said the chairman of the Lagos chapter of the association, David Abiodun, recently released the new price list to excos at a symposium. He noted that the purpose of the list was to curb the activities of agents that were still overcharging their customers.
He said, “Although, we agreed that depending on one’s area, they can lower the charges. But it should exceed these new prices. This is why we expect everyone to paste it in their locations so that customers can see it.”
Commenting on how the association intends to enforce its price list, the PRO states that it will leverage its relationship with the police and a task force in their area of operations.
Adeoye explained, “To enforce this new price list is easy because we have a good relationship with the Lagos State Command, Police Force, and all the DPOs in the area. Very soon a task force will be set up in each zone so that they will work along with it.
“Today, someone can get a PoS and start working, but we would soon get to everyone. Registered members have a number and certificate, and we have a good collaboration with the CBN both in Lagos and in Abuja. AMMBAN is part of meetings around financial inclusion.
“So, enforcing this will be easy for us. We have zones in almost all the local governments. So, our task force in each zone will locate those who are there. We also have our website, and everyone has to register.”
In January, National President, AMMBAN, Victor Olojo, told The PUNCH that the association did not have any plans to increase its service charges. In February, the Central Bank of Nigeria released emergency telephone numbers where Nigerians could report PoS agents charging above N200 for withdrawal of amounts up to N10,000.
