The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that Point of Sale Terminals that have not been active for more than three months will be deactivated so as to reduce frequency of network failure and improve efficiency of customer usage.
Deputy Director, Banking and Payment System Department, CBN, Mr. Musa Itokpa Jimoh reportedly explained that this action is aimed at reducing duplication of the device.
Jimoh said “At one merchant location you can have 10 and the merchant needs only one. So, technically speaking you have just given them PoS terminals that would not work. So, what we are doing now is to clean up and to say we don’t want to see more than two PoS terminals in any location.
“What we do is to make sure that if a terminal is there and it is not doing any transaction, we deactivate it. So, any terminal that has not done transaction in the last three months is considered not active and what we do is to deactivate it. Once we deactivate it, we now have the true number of PoS terminals that are working in the country.”
He said the ongoing deactivation process is being handled by Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), he said “NIBSS is the aggregator and is the one that knows the terminal that has not been active.”
Jimoh also urged Nigerians to keep their ATM Cards safe, he said “Your card is never safe until you protect it completely from everyone. The 16-digits in front of your card which is called the pan are very dangerous. Do not allow anybody to snap it and in front of that card you have the expiry period and when you turn the card the other way, you have the three digits called the Card Verification Value (CVV).
“Those three pieces of information are very vital and if you give your card out and feel you still have your pin, you might be making a mistake. Those of us who send our drivers out with our cards, if anybody gets hold of the 16 digits, the CVV and the expiry date, that person can go on the internet and buy goods with it.”