4 Cash Crunch: POS Business Crumbling, As Petty Traders Lament Low Patronage

Ismaeel Uthman

THE Mobile Money business popularly known has Point of Sales (POS) is crumpling in the State of Osun, inves ga ons have revealed.

Majority of the people in the business have abandoned it following their inability to access cash, owing to the lingering cash crunch induced by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

OSUN DEFENDER observed that many kiosks and containers being used by the mobile money operators have been shut in Osogbo, Ikirun, Iree, Ilesa, Ife, Ede and Iwo.

This is just as few of the POS operators have been placing high charges on their transac ons, ranging between 10 and 25 percent on the amount being given out.

Besides, inves ga ons have revealed that some traders, supermarkets, wholesale business owners and others who are being paid in cash by their customers are selling the money to needing individuals.

According to reports, some Hausas in Osogbo were sending their cash as goods to their rela ves and other persons in the northern part of the country.

Before the prac ce, OSUN DEFENDER learnt that the Hausas were collec ng N5,000 on N100,000 cash being given to POS operators.

Findings by this medium also revealed that some filling sta ons a endants and managers were collec ng ‘charges’ on the cash being given out to the mobile money operators.

However, the unavailability of cash and the stress associated with ge ng from the few in circula on have forced majority of the POS operators to shut down.

A POS operator in Ede, Mrs. Dorcas Agboola, claimed that she has suspended her business because of the cash cruch.

Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER yesterday, Agboola, said, “We don’t have access to money again. Unlike before that we can get cash at banks, filling sta ons and traders, there is no money anywhere to run the business again. We spend hours at bank just to get N10,000 which is not even enough to buy things for myself.

“Ever since the scarcity of naira begun, I have not for once operate my terminal. I have suspended the business for now. Withdrawal transac on is the heartbeat of POS business and when you don’t have money to pay people, it is be er you close your shop.”

Speaking with the medium, another POS operator in Ila, Mr. Segun Akintayo, said