Relief as PoS employees resume work in Ilorin

Point of Sale operators are now fully back in business after a long break occasioned by the recent naira scarcity crisis in the country.

We reports that the increase in the number of old naira notes in circulation by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has also made more cash available to PoS operators through commercial banks.

The development has rubbed off on the socio-economic activities of the residents as business transactions have started to pick up in the Ilorin metropolis, contrary to the bitter experience of the past few months.

Findings further revealed that charges on cash withdrawals imposed on customers by the PoS operators have also crashed.

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While some operators charge an N100 commission for N1,000 cash withdrawals, others charge a minimum of N50 on every N1,000 cash withdrawn by customers.

During the naira scarcity crisis, the operators charged as much as N250, N300 and N400 for every N1,000 cash withdrawn by customers.

One of the operators, Mama Ayo who spoke to our correspondent in Ilorin on Monday, complained that the CBN has refused to dispense the newly redesigned naira notes while both the mint and tattered old N1,000 notes are in vogue now alongside other denominations.

She wondered why there were more old tattered naira notes in circulation than the newly redesigned naira notes as citizens had expected.

Commercial bank officials who confided in our correspondent shifted the blame on the CBN for its failure to print and dispense new naira notes for circulation.

Meanwhile, there has been a noticeable reduction in queues in the banking halls and ATM points around the Ilorin metropolis.

Similarly, transport fares hiked in the outbreak of the crisis have also been brought down by commercial transporters from N150 and N200 per drop to N50 and N100 depending on the distance.