There are plans by Point of Sale (PoS) agents in Lagos State to soon begin to charge customers N500 for N10,000 cash withdrawals.
The PUNCH reports that this was disclosed on Friday by Stephen Adeoye, the Public Relations Officer, Lagos Chapter of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN), during a Channels Television’s Business Morning programme.
Adeoye gave a breakdown of the proposed prices which he claimed, is aimed at eradicating price discrepancies in the industry.
“Let me tell you the price list, N1000–N2,400 will be N100 for withdrawal. N3500 to N4000 will be N200; N4,100 to N6,400 will be N300; N6,500 to N7,900 will be N400; N8500 to N10,900 will be N500; N11,000 to N14,000 will be N600; N14,500 to N17,900 will be N700; N18,000 to N2000 will N800 for withdrawal.
“Like we said, depending on your location, you can also step it down for people depending on the circumstances. But it should not go more than this.”
Adeoye further disclosed that for deposits and transfers, agents can now charge N100 for N1,000 to N4,900; N200 for N5000 to N10,900; N300 for N11,000 to N20,900; N400 got N21,000 to N30,900; N500 for N31,000 to N40,000; and N600 for N41,100 to N50,000.
He said that the chairman of the Lagos chapter of the association, David Abiodun, recently released the new price list to excos at a symposium, and noted that the purpose of the list was to curb the activities of agents that were still overcharging their customers.
“Although, we agreed that depending on one’s area, they can lower the charges. But it should not exceed these new prices. This is why we expect everyone to paste it in their locations so that customers can see it,” he said.
On how the association intends to enforce its price list, the PRO states that it will leverage its relationship with the police and a task force in their area of operations.
“To enforce this new price list is easy because we have a good relationship with the Lagos State Police Command and all the DPOs in the area. Very soon a task force will be set up in each zone so that they will work along with it.
“Today, someone can get a PoS and start working, but we would soon get to everyone. Registered members have a number and certificate, and we have a good collaboration with the CBN both in Lagos and in Abuja. AMMBAN is part of meetings around financial inclusion.
“So, enforcing this will be easy for us. We have zones in almost all the local governments. So, our task force in each zone will locate those who are there. We also have our website, and everyone has to register.”
In January, the National President of AMMBAN, Victor Olojo, told The PUNCH that the association did not have any plans to increase its service charges.
In February, the Central Bank of Nigeria released emergency telephone numbers where Nigerians could report PoS agents charging above N200 for withdrawal of amounts up to N10,000.
