Going by reports of crime across the country, it appears Point Of Sales (POS) operators have become the latest targets of robbery attacks in Nigeria.
Between December and January, I’ve heard of no less than six cases of such attacks across the country with all the victims killed.
It is easy to conclude why the POs business has become the target for the criminaly minded.
1) The POS operators carry raw cash about as that is the ‘commodity’ they trade in. 2) The nature of their business requires the expose the amount of money they carry at every transaction when they have to hand over cash to their customers. 3) They’re gradually taking over from the ATMs due to the stress and frustration required to get money from the machines.
Despite the high acceptance of electronic cash transfers in Nigeria, the volume does not cover most rural and semi urbane centers.
People in such places insist on cash payments on any transaction and accept electronic transfers only when left with no option.
The POS operators therefore meet a need created by the high demand for cash in day to day transactions in Nigeria.
But despite the value they add to to socio-economic well being of the country, they’re exposed to high risks and that is why they have lately become endangered species.
The irony is that in spite of the high risks they take, the average POS operator hardly makes enough to survive.
Because of the little amount required to register, most of the operators are petty traders who ventured into the business to add to their profit.
They hardly make above what a bread or ground nut seller makes in a day.
But because they deal in cash, they’re counted among society’s high earners by their peers.
The truth however (I hope my ‘however’ does not offend Prof. Moses Ochonu) is that they hardly make what is considered to be above the poverty level of one dollar a day which is about N470 naira, using the current rate.
Check this: For every N10,000 transaction, the POS operator charges only N200. Which means that a POS operator with N50,000 cash, goes home with only N1,000 as profit, if at the end of the day, is able to cash out all.
If you extrapolate this to N100, 000 which is a large amount of money to carry and display in public in Nigeria, the operator’s income is just about N2,000.
But because their business requires constant display of cash to meet customers’ demands, some see them as rich members of the society and have currently become targets of robbery attacks.
Just yesterday, a Point of Sales (POS) operator identified as Ezinne Grace Iroh was shot and killed at Aba, Abia State while at her shop.
Three armed men on a tricycle were said to have gone to her shop and demanded she gives them the bag she keeps money for daily transactions in and shot her on the chest while she was struggling to protect the bag.
Barely a week to that, the p⁷olice in Abia State confirmed the killing of a POS, operator identified as Mr Victor Igbokwe, in Aba.
In his case, it was reported that four armed men came on a tricycle and moved to Igbokwe’s POS shop, shot him, collected his money and fled.
Few days after that on January 26, 2021, another POS operator in Mkpani in Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State was shot dead as he was coming back from work.
What it means is that this lady and the others who were killed for being in possession of large amount of money exposed themselves danger because of probably N2,000 they were going to make that day.
You cannot help but feel sorry for them when you multiply that amount by 31 days in a month which gives you N62,000 only.
Fact is, with the level of poverty in Nigeria, any display of cash is an invitation to robbery attack.
The introduction of POS is supposed to reduce the reliance on cash transactions but in reality that is hardly the case in Nigeria as many businesses are still not comfortable with electronic mode of payment.
That is why you find long queues at ATMs.
Many avoid electronic transfers because of the high rate of failure, unpredictabilty and claims of being duped.
But my concern here is how to protect these POS operators who are compelled to take up the business in order to earn a living or increase their sources of income.
The demand for their services is increasing because of the long queues at ATMs, the refusal of banks to load the ATMs as and when due, the ease of transcations with them and because of the high number of business that are not electronically compliant.
Armed obbers, in the days of Lawrence Anini used to target fuel stations and restaurants because they know that by close of business, they must have made something substantial.
When the people in those types of businesses realised that, they started taking their monies to banks on an hourly basis, reducing the attraction to the criminally minded.
But the POS operators cannot afford not to be carrying huge sums of money as that is the product they deal in.
One of the measures they’ve taken which has helped a lot of them is that they close very early.
In most Nigerian towns I’ve been to, you hardly see any of the shops open beyond 5:00 PM.
This is good but not enough as robbers are becoming more daring and strike even in the day.
I suggest the POS operators learn from the operators of Bureau De Change who miraculously, are the only group of people I know who carry large sums of money but hardly attract attention of the criminally minded.
What I notice they do is, operate as a clan, clustering around one another instead of operating separately and far away from each other like the POS operators do.
With this kind of arrangement, they’re able to hire security personnel while their large number at a place serves to discourage any likely intruder as the chances of getting away with an attack is slim.
I hope the POS operators would learn from this.
