Imported User:
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been told to measure the success of the cashless policy in Lagos, before extending the policy to other states in the country to avoid wastage of resources.
Some Point of Sale (POS) machine users in Lagos who spoke to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday said that Lagos residents were yet to embrace the policy, due to their preference for cash transactions.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the CBN through the Deposit Money Bank have deployed 100,000 POS machines in Lagos State since the inception of the policy to boost the cash-less policy initiative.
Mr Harrison Owoh, Managing Director of HJ Trust and Investment Ltd, a POS machine user, told NAN that the policy had failed to achieve CBN's aim of reducing cash transactions.
“The acceptability level of the POS machine is very low as people prefer to use cash for transaction purposes,” Owoh said.
He said that there should be improvement in the POS technology as most of the machines in use were old-fashioned, fairly used and marred by connectivity problems.
He, however, called on the apex bank to intensify its awareness campaign to enlighten the populace on the need to embrace the policy.
Owoh also stressed the need for infrastructure improvement by the Federal Government for proper functioning of the POS system.
Mr Williams Ikonoh, Manager, Payless Pharmacy and Supermarket, said that “the use of POS machine is less than 30 per cent when compared to the use of cash which is about 70 per cent.
“I record high patronage of the POS machine from people that are literate, compared to illiterates who like using cash for their purchases.
“I believe that people will only comply with the cash-less policy when the CBN puts a ban on the use of certain amount of cash for business transactions. “
A Sales Representative at Tantalizers, a fast-food outfit, Mr Jide Ladipo, told NAN that the POS in his organisation had not been functioning since the past three months.
“Our POS machine has been having technical problems. We have repaired it over five times since the day of installation and the organisation had to return it last week. ”
NAN reports that most traders are unaware of the cash-less policy while most shops and business outfits are yet to get the POS machines. (NAN)
