In order to significantly cut down on the N1.6 trillion cash transaction yearly, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is set to roll out about 150,000 point of sale (PoS) terminal by the end of December 2012.
?
CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi said an efficient payment system was key to achieving the transformation agenda of the current administration.
?
To this end, he said 40,000 PoS will have been deployed in Lagos State as part of the cashless project initiative. Lagos is expected to be the pilot scheme of the new payment system from January 2012. “This will be scaled up to 375,000 PoS by end of 2015 when we hope to attain our benchmark of PoS penetration of over 2,200 per 100.000 adults. Currently, the penetration is just 30 PoS per 100,000 adults. We hope that by 2015 we will attain that standard,” he said.
?
The CBN governor who was speaking at the 45th annual bankers’ dinner organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) held in Lagos at the weekend, emphasised that an efficient payment system was important to nation building.
?
In his speech entitled, ‘Modernising the Payment System for Sustainable Growth,’ read on his behalf by Tunde Lemo, CBN deputy governor? in charge of operations, Mr. Sanusi emphasised that payment system was essential for smooth transmission of monetary policy impulses. “The efficiency of the national payment system is indispensable for the stability of financial markets. This is because indications on signs of financial crisis are easily noticeable in the operations of the payment system.” He said the overhaul of the payment system would help eliminate the incidence of ghost employees and ghost pensioners.
?
According to him, over the next few years, the focus of the CBN would be to strengthen the institutional and regulatory framework that would facilitate the financial inclusion of the unbanked. He explained that one of the things that would drive electronic payment in the future include the application of mobile technology, the passage of the National Payment System Bill as well as the adoption of the national identity number which is expected to address the challenge of unique identifier that affects the widespread use of credit card in Nigeria.