NKRUMAH BANKONG-OBI/Lafia
To curb incidences of fraud perpetrated by some point of sales, POS, agents in Nasarawa State, the umbrella body of the extended banking operators has taken steps to end the menace. The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, AMMBAN, Nasarawa State chapter unveiled its task force on Wednesday, in the Karu Local government Area with the view to bringing sanity to the system.
Noah Enesata, the State chairman of the association said the essence of the taskforce is to ensure a security-tight and efficient financial service delivery by members of the organisation in Nasarawa State. While clarifying that AMMBAN will be working in tandem with security agencies and other stakeholders to achieve the set goals, in the short and medium term, he assured the public of their continuous pledge to eradicate financial crimes committed through the POS services across all local government areas of the State. The major reason for establishing the AMMBAN Joint Task Force is to tackle fraud. This is because, for one reason or another, some persons are now scared of using POS machines for their transactions because fraudsters are beginning to take advantage of agency banking,” adding that “We have heard of instances where armed robbers and kidnappers make use of POS machines to steal from people and collect ransom from their victims, among other illegal practice.”
Among those inaugurated as members of the Joint taskforce are; Simon Emeka-Kenneth, who chairs the JTF, Salisu Ibrahim is to serve as secretary, Thani Godwin-John is the publicity secretary, Victor Orih-Daniel is the Mobilization secretary, John Enemona-Amenson and Shadrach Ilani will be members. Enesata reiterated that “Every POS operator is supposed to have a physical location so that if there are any issues, we will know how to address them. POS operators are an extension of the bank, so even on days when the bank is not working, they are expected to serve their customers in their respective towns and communities with all sincerity. He therefore pledged his organisation’s determination to respect the guidelines released by the Central Bank of Nigeria to govern POS operations.
In his acceptance speech, Simon Emeka-Kenneth expressed the desire to repay the confidence reposed in him by working towards eliminating fraud-related issues among POS operators in the State. He acknowledged that his team’s duties include enforcement of rules, crime reporting, investigation, public awareness, media engagement, etc, “Part of our assignment is to go into the field and enforce the directives of the CBN and our executives because if you go out there, you discover that some of the customers are no longer safe doing business with POS agents. We are going to make sure that we put a stop to it. We are going to make the environment safe for our businesses so that customers will be comfortable while doing business with POS agents in the State,” he promised. He lamented the scarcity of cash flow in the state. he appealed to the governor of the State, Abdullahi Sule to intervene by collaborating with the CBN to address the challenge.