Nigerian government threatens PoS operators with N10m fine, 3 months for illegal pricing Through the Competition and Consumer Protection Com...
Nigerian government threatens PoS operators with N10m fine, 3 months for illegal pricing
Through the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the Federal Government has threatened to penalize Point of Sale (PoS) companies for the anticipated increase in transaction fees.
The commission states that PoS operators who are found to be in violation of the order must pay N10 million for corporate entities and N1 million or face up to three months in jail for individuals.
This comes after PoS providers made the decision to set new rates for PoS transactions under the auspices of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria.
The FCCPC's Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Babatunde Irukera, revealed this in a statement on Monday.
Irukera stated: "The Commission advises PoS operators that violation of an order of the Commission attracts additional consequences apart from the underlying illegal conduct that is the subject of the order such as up to N10,000,000 for corporate entities; and N1,000,000 and or a prison sentence of up to three months for individuals."
He claimed that the suggested strategy to settle the debt violated Section 127 of the 2018 Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act.
As a result, the Commission has entered an Order & Notice (ONC) of the Commission to AMMBAN, persons identified as executives, members, and non-member PoS operators to Cease and Desist from conduct that violates the law in order to escalate this in accordance with the FCCPA and ancillary instruments.
Additionally, some people, such as people who are not AMMBAN members, could be made subject to the ONC. As a result, the Commission has done so before and is doing so once more. The FCCPC chairman said, "Members are nevertheless encouraged to evaluate the ONC's sufficiency of service under Section 158(4) of the FCCPA, which deems such service on their association or executives as adequate and acceptable.