Ahead of Federal Government directive to mobile money otherwise known as Point of Sale (PoS), operators to get registered with the Corporate Affair Commission, CAC, or risk arrests and prosecution, the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, AMMBAN, has commenced mobilisation of its members whose businesses are not yet registered to comply with the directive before July 7th deadline.
The Federal Government, through CAC, had on Monday issued a two-month registration deadline to the PoS operators to register their agents, merchants, and individuals with the commission in line with legal requirements and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, policy.
The agreement was reached during a meeting between Fintechs and the Registrar-General CAC, Hussaini Ishaq Maga
According to the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), as at March 2024, 2.68 million PoS terminals were deployed out of 3.73 million terminals registered.
Commenting on the development, the immediate past National Treasurer/Chairman Lagos Chapter, AMMBAN, Mr. Olowu Babs Azeez said: “We have engaged in a serious campaign and we have encouraged our people to make sure that they comply with the federal government directive. A serious campaign has been going on in all our platforms and social media as well.
“For those operators that are not under AMMBAN, we just launched a task force, we launched in Lagos, Nasarawa and Osun just to educate people and create more awareness for them to know the dangers attached to what they are doing and if they are not ready to comply, they are forced to quit their jobs.
“Because most of them, a lot of people perpetrate fraud through their outlets and everyday people think they are our members.
“They are not our members and also, in compliance with the CBN rules as a PoS agent, you are not supposed to operate under an umbrella stand or by the road side. It should be on mortar and bricks or kiosks.
“These people are not in compliance with the rules and regulations that guide the operation.
“So we have been trying our best in our own capacity to create more awareness and to educate people about the sensitivity of the operation.
“So it is now left to the licensed Mobile Money Operators, MMOs and the banks that just issue PoS to ‘Dick and Harry’.
“I could recollect,When we started far back 2011, 2012, there was what was called an inspection team and they came to my office to verify if I am in compliance and operating by the CBN rules.
“But now there is nothing like that. They have compliance departments but they are not going out to check what is going on.
“The major problem lies with the bank and the MMOs who just give PoS to people because they want to make money.”