Article Summary
- The number of PoS terminals deployed by merchants and individuals rose to 1.8 million in March.
- This represents a 75% increase year on year when compared with the number of deployed terminals in the same period last year, which was 1.04 million.
- The value of transactions over the PoS terminals also increased to N1.1 trillion in the month, the highest monthly record on the platform.
The number of Point of Sales (PoS) machines deployed by merchants and individuals across Nigeria rose to 1.8 million in March this year.
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) disclosed this in its latest electronic payment data, a copy of which was obtained by Nairametrics.
Note that this represents a 75% increase year on year compared with the number of deployed terminals in the same period last year, which was 1.04 million.
The March 2023 figure indicated that 776 089 new PoS terminals were deployed in the last 12 months. This is, however, still lower than the total registered terminals.
According to the NIBSS data, a total of 2.329 million PoS machines had been registered across the country as of December 2022, which shows that a total of 504,572 terminals are either yet to be deployed or have become inactive.
Transaction value on the rise
Meanwhile, the value of transactions over PoS terminals in Nigeria jumped to N1.1 trillion in March this year. This came as the highest monthly record of transactions on the platform as more Nigerians are forced to go cashless due to the scarcity of cash.
Year on year, the March figure shows a 60% increase when compared with the N718.5 billion recorded in the same month last year.
Similarly, the volume of transactions on PoS also went rose to 177.9 million in the month under review. This represents a 72.8% increase when compared with the 102.9 million recorded in March 2022.
The NIBSS data shows that Nigerians in the first 3 months of this year had spent a total of N2.8 trillion over PoS.
What you know: the driving forces
Aside from the recent cash scarcity, the growth of PoS transactions in Nigeria is being driven by many factors, part of which include rapid adoption by merchants for receiving payments.
- PoS is also bridging the gap created by the shortage of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) deployed by banks, as many Nigerians now withdraw through PoS agents.
- The profitability of POS transactions for both banks and vendors has bolstered the growing deployment of POS. The cost of the transaction is often borne by the customers, creating profit for the POS operator and the bank.
- In recent times, it has also served as a means of employment for Nigerian youths, who are building businesses through the offering of POS services.
Please what source do you have that backs this statement: “The number of Point of Sales (PoS) machines deployed by merchants and individuals across Nigeria rose to 1.8 million in March this year.”