By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday ordered all Payment Service Providers to route all transactions from PoS terminals at merchant and agent locations — physical or electronic — through an approved CBN Payment Terminal Service Aggregator.

The directive was contained in a circular issued by Oladimeji Yisa Taiwo on behalf of the CBN’s Payments System Management Department.

The apex bank stated that all PoS transactions from merchant and agent locations must now be routed through any CBN-licensed PTSA.

The circular also announced a 30-day deadline requiring service providers to comply with enhanced routing guidelines for point-of-sale transactions.

This move aims to strengthen the monitoring of electronic transactions across Nigeria and decentralise PoS transaction routing, addressing concerns about the centralisation of such transactions under a single entity.

The circular read, “To achieve the objective of tracking electronic transactions in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria, in August 2011, granted a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator licence to Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc. In furtherance of the above, the CBN hereby directs acquirers to route all transactions from PoS terminals at merchant and agent locations, whether on physical or electronic PoS terminals, through any CBN-licensed Payment Terminal Service Aggregator.”

“PTSAs are required to send PoS transactions to only processors certified by the relevant Payment Scheme, nominated by the Acquirer, and licensed by the CBN.”

This development follows the expiration of the 5th September deadline for PoS agents to formally register their businesses with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

Although the directive was challenged in court, the CAC recently announced that it has commenced taking drastic actions, including shutting down PoS businesses that failed to register.

The directive on PoS business registration comes against the backdrop of frequent fraud incidents involving PoS terminals and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s plans to prevent trading in cryptocurrency or virtual currency.

According to a report by Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc, PoS terminals accounted for 26.37% of fraud incidents in 2023.

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Northern Senators Forum on Thursday condoled with Borno State Government over recent flood disaster.

This was contained in a statement signed by Sen Abdulaziz Musa Yar’Adua
Chairman Northern Senators Forum stating that:

“On behalf of the Northern Senators Forum, I extend our deepest condolences to the people and government of Borno State over the loss of lives and property resulting from the collapse of the Alau Dam.

“Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and those displaced by this devastating flood.

“We appreciate the prompt visit by Vice President Kashim Shettima to assess the situation and provide leadership during this challenging time. His swift response demonstrates the government’s commitment to supporting affected communities.

“We also commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for approving 3 billion naira for each state to address flood and disaster relief efforts. This timely intervention will go a long way in alleviating the suffering of affected citizens.

“We urge all states to take responsibility and develop strategic plans to address climate change and prevent further environmental disasters. The Senate will continue to pursue legislation and policies that mitigate the effects of environmental disasters and promote sustainable development.

“We stand in solidarity with the people of Borno State and assure them of our support during this difficult period.

By Mario Deepromoter

Fire has gutted a market following a fire outbreak at a GSM village around Kpata market in Lokoja the Kogi State capital.

It was gathered that the fire outbreak started in the early hours of Thursday due to a power upsurge.

It was further learnt that shop owners could not salvage anything from the fire after it got out of control.

One of the traders in the market, Muhammed Yahaya who lost his goods to the fire narrated the incident saying, “Somebody called me around 5:30 am today that the market is on fire. On getting there, many shops have already been burnt down. So we tried to look at the actual cause of the fire outbreak. From all indications so far, we were told by the people that stay within that the power voltage they brought was high.

“The neighbouring houses there said it affected their fans, light and other things. Actually, this might be the cause of the fire outbreak in the market. Millions of naira worth of goods have been destroyed. Laptops, phones and accessories got burnt. The most unfortunate thing is that most of these people just received their goods this week. It has never happened before. It is still a big shock to every one of us who owns shop in the market”.

He appealed to the Kogi State Government to intervene by assisting those who lost their goods financially and rebuilding the GSM village.

“We know we have a Governor that has a listening ear. He is a father to us. As you can see, we are Youths who are resourceful. Most of us are graduates, and we are not waiting for the Government to provide jobs for us. We created the jobs on our own.

“The properties that we have been nurturing for over 15 years got burnt within an hour. We want the government to look into it by assisting us financially and rebuilding the market. In this market, we have about 200 Youths who are engaged in this kind of business. People were hungry before this happened” he added.

Also Speaking to newsmen, the Financial Secretary, Kogi Association of Phones and Accessories Dealers, (KAPAD) Moses Felix said the incident has affected him physically, mentally and emotionally.

According to him, I was crying this morning when my shop got burnt. I couldn’t do anything. I am into laptop repairs and sales. My goods that arrived this week got burnt completely, so am starting from scratch.

“I am a married Man with kids. Where do I go from here and how can I feed my family in the midst of this economic hardship? The Government should come to our aide. We provide jobs for people. I have like three boys that are working for me who are under my payroll. Definitely, they are going back home without job,” Felix lamented

As of the time of filing this report, fire service officials were making efforts to put out the fire.