POS Operators Threaten to Suspend Services Over Exclusivity Practice

The Association of Point of Sale Service Providers (POS) may suspend their services in the country if the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the FCCPC fail to intervene in the alleged exclusivity practice by Verve International and Interswitch Limited.

The association made the disclosure in a statement signed by Yomi Idowu, its Communications Consultant.

According to Idowu, the POS operators have written a letter to protest the alleged persistent unlawful decisions of the two companies, noting that the actions of Verve and Interswitch, negate ‘extant rules and regulations  of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN} and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act  (FCCPC), 2018.

The Association of POS Service Providers emphasised that “As representatives of coalition comprising several Central Bank of Nigeria Licensed payment acceptors/acquirers, processors and switches they would have no option than to suspend acceptance/acquiring, processing  and switching  of Verve Card transactions.”

The Point of Sales Association in the letter was quoted thus that “This decision has become unavoidable due to the persistent and escalating unlawful conduct of Verve International (Verve) and Interswitch Limited (Interswitch),” which according to the Association jointly undermine “The integrity of Nigeria’s payments ecosystem, erode the capital base of participating  Institutions  and violates several regulatory  requirements.”

The Association highlighted the breaches as including but not limited to, maintainance  of an exclusive monopoly  over verve transaction processing; abuse of dominant position in the domestic card scheme market, contrary to Section 72 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018(FCCPCA) and Section 3,4,7,3 of the CBN Guidelines on Operation of Electronic Payment  Channels; imposition of Scheme fees in excess of the regulated Merchant Service Commission (MSC) share attributable to Acquirers  under extant CBN regulations; and unauthorised and unlawful debits from settlement accounts of Acquirers, and Processors /Switches.

The POS Association recalled that its members contributed immensely to building the acceptance  and growth of Verve cards at enormous cost its members in compliance with CBN regulations without subsidy from Verve and Interswitch as domestic scheme in Nigeria.

Idowu concluded that “Ironically the Association emphasised that other Card Scheme operators have since abolished all forms of exclusivity in compliance with CBN regulations.”

Nigeria Records 204 Deaths Lassa Fever Deaths With 793 Confirmed Cases

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja 

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has said that 204 persons have died from Lassa Fever disease between January till date.

It also said that the country has so far recorded 793 confirmed cases of Lassa Fever since the beginning of this year.

The Centre said that one new healthcare worker was affected by Lassa Fever as at Week 19 this year.

A Lassa Fever Situation Report for Week 19 (4th – 10th May, 2026) made public yesterday the total number of new confirmed cases decreased from 22 in Epidemic Week 18 of 2026 to 17. 

NCDC said the cases were reported in Edo,Bauchi, Ondo, Kogi, Taraba and Nasarawa states.

According to the update, “the cumulative total of confirmed cases of Lassa Fever for week 19 (2026) is 793, while 204 deaths have been recorded.

It further disclosed that the case fatality rate is 25.7 per cent (higher than 19.4 per cent same period in 2025).

While ⁠23 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 108 Local Government Areas, 84 per cent of confirmed cases are from Bauchi, Ondo, Taraba, Benue and Edo State.

NCDC stated that the predominant age group affected still remains 21- 30 years.