Abdul’s fingers rapped at the screen, his eyes barely lifting to meet mine. In the 10 minutes I stood by his wooden table listening to his almost-decade-long journey as a PoS agent, four people had walked up, handing him cash or their debit cards, making transfers in his small stall at Ojodu Berger. “Slow morning,” he broke off. He had already processed over ₦100,000 in transactions.
In many corners of cities and towns across Nigeria, plastic chairs, battered umbrellas, and wooden stalls have become the unofficial signage of a PoS stand. The growing presence of such stalls represents Nigeria’s shifting financial landscape, characterised by the growth of digital payments and unstable banking systems. From the cash crunch of early 2023 to chronic ATM failures, PoS agents swooped in and reshaped how Nigerians access financial services such as deposits, bill payments, transfers, and withdrawals. In 2024, PoS terminals transacted a total of ₦18 trillion, a 69% surge compared with 2023’s ₦10.7 trillion.
PoS agents make money by charging a fee on each transaction, including withdrawals, transfers, deposits, and some bill payments. These fees are rarely fixed. In many parts of Lagos, customers pay between ₦100–₦150 to withdraw ₦5,000; ₦250 for ₦10,000; and ₦400–₦500 for ₦20,000. The higher the amount of money, the steeper the transaction charge. These charges are a combination of the agent’s profit margin, the fintech platform commissions, and the ₦50 Electronic Money Transfer Levy on transfers above ₦10,000.
How much do they earn?
Many factors determine how much PoS agents rake in at the end of the month. For a business that has become a feature in nearly every neighborhood, location matters a lot. Agents operating in areas with high foot traffic earn more than those tucked away in quiet corners. Ore*, who operates from a hidden street off Surulere, and is only visible to residents and familiar faces, processes an average of 10 to 20 transactions daily. However, just a short walk toward a busier intersection, Ali sees between 50 and 60 transactions a day.
The fintech platform an agent uses also shapes how much they keep per transaction. Agents using PalmPay and Moniepoint claim that the charge collected on every ₦1000 ranges between ₦5–₦10. But, Ibukun Abolarinwa, an agent who has tested various platforms, claims there are differences in how much is deducted on the backend. After conducting his comparative study, he saw that “Moniepoint removes more charges than PalmPay.” Then there’s Opay, which, as Abdul describes, runs a kind of reward system based on transaction volume. The more transactions you process using the Opay PoS, the less you’re charged over time.
Though there are no official records of daily or monthly earnings, conversations with a handful of operators paint a revealing picture. With their charges starting from ₦100—and climbing based on the amount of money—and daily transaction volumes ranging between 20-70, daily income typically falls between ₦3,000 and ₦12,000. This means monthly income could range from ₦90,000 to ₦360,000.
It looks like easy money from the outside, but behind every ₦100+ charge is a list of running costs that add up quickly.
What they spend to earn
Data is the biggest expense, with agents spending up to ₦30,000 per month. Joy, in her wooden kiosk in Surulere, claims she spends ₦10,000 weekly to keep her Moniepoint terminal running. Ibukun has a PoS machine from Wema Bank that needs no data connection. However, he claims that he risks delayed transactions and losing his customers’ interest if he uses that terminal. “If I withdraw ₦500,000 from it now, it is after one hour that the money will drop.”
There is also the physical cost of transportation that agents spend in sourcing cash. With banks placing weekly limits on individual accounts, Ibukun rotates through his eight bank accounts at different branches every week—spending up to ₦25,000 monthly on transport alone. Some agents still claim to buy cash during periods where cash flow dries up.
Abul, who operates out of a small shop, not the usual umbrella stalls, pays ₦300,000 annually for rent and spends ₦30,000 monthly to keep the lights on. And because he is a family man, he often pays a helping hand to watch over his business while he is away. After covering these expenses and attending to household needs, he says he’s left with just ₦15,000 to ₦20,000 at the end of the month.
Tales of losses and risks
The job of operating a PoS terminal comes with more than just overhead. It comes with risk.
Abdul’s account of his years in the business took a dark turn when he recounted being attacked at knife-point one night. It taught him what many PoS agents already know: that running this business requires vigilance. He explained that while banks have security, PoS agents have to hold their own. Other agents echoed this. Ibukun says he hides his cash in different compartments of his purse and splits it into corners of his home, right in front of which his PoS stand sits.
Beyond physical security, POS agents are also vulnerable to fraudulent transfers, especially from new customers. Several agents recounted instances they’ve heard of where customers show fake debit alerts or use network delays to confuse agents into thinking money has dropped when it hasn’t.
Sometimes, the transaction shows “approved” on the terminal, but the money never arrives. Other times, it reflects briefly and then reverses back to the customer’s account without the agent knowing. In these cases, unless the agent notices quickly, they lose both the money and the customer.
“It is very strict business; if you don’t handle it with care, you will experience a lot of losses,” Abdul retorted.
Still, the rise of PoS agents says more about Nigeria’s economy than it does about the business itself. In a country where formal jobs are few and banks are retreating, a generation of young Nigerians has built its economy, ₦100 at a time. “It is still better than not doing anything at all,” Abdul says.
Sitting under an umbrella from dawn to dusk may not be the dream, but it’s a lifeline for the agents and the people they serve. As of 2023, cash remained the predominant payment method at PoS terminals across Nigeria, holding a market share of over 50%. While the adoption of digital payment solutions has accelerated, cash continues to be central in physical transactions. As long as cash remains king and digital payments remain unstable, the agent under the umbrella might just be the most reliable part of Nigeria’s financial system.
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