Osun residents decry exorbitant charges by POS operators on Naira withdrawal

Residents of Osun have expressed dissatisfaction over the exorbitant amount charged by Point Of Sales (POS) operators as commission for cash withdrawal by customers. In an interview with a cross-section of residents in Osogbo and Ile-Ife, customers complained that failure of commercial banks to provide them with the new Naira notes has turned POS operators to exploiters and opportunists. They, however, called for an urgent action from concerned authorities to checkmate the excessive charges by the POS operators before the situation gets out of hand. Mr Dele Oyewumi, a resident of Osogbo, stated that he was made to paid N750 on a cash withdrawal of N5,000 at Odi-Olowo axis, Olaiya, on Friday when he was returning home in the night. “I was returning home and I decided to go to the Automated Teller Machines (ATM) at Fakunle Area to withdraw some money, because I was out of cash, but there was a long queue at the ATM. “I then decided to approach a POS operator to withdraw N5,000 only for him to charge me N150 on a thousand Naira. “The whole situation is becoming appalling and frustrating. POS operators are becoming exploitative and it is really sad,” he said. Mr Ponle Adebayo, a civil servant, also complained that the POS charges were becoming too much for anyone to bear, looking at the harsh economic situation of the country. Adebayo said the operators needed to reconsidered their actions by being considerate with customers. He said the operators must know that nothing lasts forever and the need for them to build customer relation should be paramount to them. Mrs Agnes Olatunbosun, a business owner in Osogbo, appealed to the Federal Government and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to come up with drastic solutions in addressing the scarcity of the Naira notes. Olatunbosun said the way and manner some POS operators behave because of the Naira scarcity is terrible and very unfriendly. She said some even deny receiving credit alerts when customers make bank transfers for cash withdrawal to them, often leading to confusion