By Odunewu Segun
Nigerian banks in collaboration with the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) in 2015 have paid out almost N400 million in incentives to promote the use of electronic payment system in the country.
Speaking at a press conference organised by the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), Managing Director of NIBBSS, Ade Shonubi, said banks have spent over N400 million as incentives under electronic payment incentives scheme. “The electronic payment incentives scheme (EPIS) is an initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bankers Committee, and the banks in Nigeria to promote electronic payment in Nigeria.”
He said: “There were series of activities around it that started over a year ago. One of the first thing is when we were refunding cash back to people, and at the end of the month, you receive some amount of money for using your PoS, and then we had adverts.”
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Also commenting, NIBSS Executive Director, Business Development, Mrs. Christabel Onyejekwe noted that the payment of cashback to bank customers have been stopped in December, 2015 but will be replaced with the loyalty engine which will give out points for PoS usage.
Onyejekwe explained that the difference between the cashback and the loyalty engine is that one gives back cash and the other records points that can be redeemed at a later time.
She noted that of the 120,000 PoS terminals in the country, only about 100,000 are connected to the NIBSS platform and only 62,000 are active. She added that NIBSS is talking to stakeholders to withdraw the dormant PoS from circulation.