Findings by LEADERSHIP, over the weekend, showed that many ATMs were not dispensing cash with the exception of a few. Even the few that were dispensing cash had withdrawal restrictions as most banks restrict withdrawal from ATMs to N5 000 per transaction for other banks.
Most of the ATMs were just adding to the aesthetics of the banks as either they were not working at all or had no cash to dispense.
With this situation which has been ongoing for a couple of weeks, the business of PoS operators in Lagos, across the country has boomed significantly.
From major business areas to suburbs, bank customers are forced to pay PoS charges to operators to be able to access their monies lodged with the various banks in the country. Although banks say they supply cash to their ATMs, most machines remain without cash most of the time.
A bank official who spoke on anonymity, explained that their bank branches have limited cash and once the cash allocated to the ATMs are exhausted, there will be no cash in the machines till the next day.
A bank customer, Zakariyya Temidayo, who lives in Egbeda area of Lagos stated that, most times he has been to the atm terminals in his bank who have about six terminals, only one or two would be dispensing cash, hence, brewing queues at the few dispensing points.
“Because of the stress I pass through while trying to withdraw from banks, I have decided to use PoS for my transactions, even though there are charges attached, ” he said.
Similarly, on Saturday morning, a customer who wanted to be anonymous lamented to LEADERSHIP of the unavailability of cash at the ATM, having visited bank ATMs along the Oba Akran axis of Ikeja, saying, he is stranded as there are no POS vendors readily available at that time.
Another bank customer, Femi Ayanwale, narrating his ordeal at Obafemi Awolowo road in Ikeja area of Lagos said, “three POS operators before me used ATM cards to withdraw all cash deposited inside the Zenith Bank machine. The first one collected about N200,000 10 times with different ATM cards.
“The second person collected about N200,000 three times while the third person before it got to my turn collected N200,000 two times, but wanted to collect another one before the machine ran dry. Right at the front of the bank, one of them wanted to sell it to another customer behind me who could not get anything.”
A resident of Ogun State, Chioma Johnson , lamented that there is no bank around his area and that most people rely on PoS for banking transactions.
These are experiences of many other customers within Lagos and Ogun metropolis, who had to rely on PoS for their banking transaction said, they would have preferred to use banks because it is more secure than mobile money operators, where scammers can him access to one’s information and make withdrawals from one’s account.
In many suburban areas in Lagos, the ATMs of banks are mostly without cash and PoS operators can be found either in front the banks or in small kiosks beside the banks to offer cash to customers at a fee for those unable to get cash at the ATMs.
With 3.73 million PoS terminals registered and 2.689 million PoS terminals deployed in the country, PoS terminals originally meant for cashless transactions have turned into micro banks with signs on every street across the country.
Although banking agents had been introduced to fill the gap in areas where there is no banking presence, PoS operators have become cash points even in areas where there are banks.
Findings show that some of the operators are collaborating with traders who now insist on either cash or transfer to a PoS operator who charges a fee for the transaction.
On his part, Professor Tayo Bello, in an interview with LEADERSHIP yesterday, noted that most banks were unable to feed their ATMs because they don’t have much cash that can go round their machines, hence, will just feed a few dispensing machines.
This, he attributed to the cashless initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) who has been reducing cash in circulation in a move to curb inflation.
He, however, frowned at a development whereby PoS operators were operating within the banking premises, saying, this is unethical and should be discouraged.
He urged the concerned banks to correct this anomaly by restricting the PoS operation outside the radius of the banking halls, while asking them to discharge their duties and responsibilities as expected of them.
In his own view, CEO/chairman, Lancelot Ventures Limited, Adebayo Adeleke said: “It’s one way by which corruption is manifested at the base level. Ever wondered why you only have mint or fresh notes offered for sale at parties? The PoS saga is one sure way by which the banks frustrate the economic policies of the government.”
