How POS operators are exploiting customers in the cash swap saga

Many Point of Sale (POS) operators in metropolitan Ibadan have decided to cash out residents following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) recent cash swap policy and the scarcity of new naira notes in circulation.

President Muhammadu Buhari had recently approved the CBN’s request to extend the deadline for exchanging old Naira notes with redesigned notes. The new deadline has now been moved from January 31, 2023 to February 10, 2023.

Despite the extension, some commercial banks have not dispensed both old and new naira notes from their ATMs for reasons best known to them.

Our reporter understood that there are long, frustrating lines at the few ATMs dispensing the new notes in the area.

Based on the background, POS operators are now charging high fees for ATM withdrawals and transfers, blaming the CBN for the scarcity of new notes in circulation.

‘N2,000 for withdrawal of N10,000’

In a quest to investigate POS activities in Ibadan and the surrounding area, Tribune Online takes a tour of POS points in the metropolis of Ibadan.

Some of the places visited are Moniya, Gate, Challenge, Sango, UI, Mokola, Oke Ado, Ojoo, etc.

More than 20 POS operators in the commercial city told our reporter that they only charge N200 for withdrawing N1000 new notes.

However, the average withdrawal of new notes is higher in the Ojoo area of ​​the state, where POS operators collect N2,000 for N10,000, N800 for N500, N200 for N1,000, among others, the study found.

“I used money to buy money. They didn’t pay us through the bank. I normally buy them (new notes) from Mokola,” a POS operator at Ojoo told our reporter during interrogation.

Another POS operator, who did not want her name and location disclosed, said they now had to pay extra fees to the banks to release the money.

“We buy them from banks. It’s not our fault. You people (referring to our reporter) should tell CBN to make the money available if they don’t want us to sell it,” the source revealed.

READ ALSO: Cash swap: ‘Not happy with extension’, Nigerians respond to CBN’s new deadline

Mokola

At Mokola, our reporter made a cash withdrawal of N5000 (as seen in the photo above) and paid N500 as an expense.

One of the POS operators, identified as Olufunke Oyindamola, claimed that some banks are now paying N100 denominations instead of large sums due to the scarcity of new notes.

“I saw hell to withdraw these new notes even with me. The queues at ATMs are so annoying. I have a number of people who even had to spend the night at the ATM to withdraw new banknotes. It’s really crazy,” she said.

Most of the POS points our reporter visited at Moniya were short of new notes, while others preferred to hoard them after CBN’s Feb. 10 deadline.

“I don’t have any o. New banknotes are not available for the time being,” a POS operator replied emphatically when our reporter asked for the new banknotes.