CWG Boss: ATM Usage Higher in Nigeria Compared to UK

Nosa Alekhuogie

A recent assessment by the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) Plc has revealed that a higher percentage of Nigerians use the ‘Automated Teller Machines’ (ATMs) compared to their counterparts in Ghana and the United Kingdom (UK).

The Chief Executive Officer of CWG, Mr. James Agada, who spoke at an Editors’ workshop organised by the company in shared the outcome of the assessment and noted that the average ATM in Nigeria dispenses thrice the number of notes in Ghana and 10 times the number of notes in U.K
“By accepted proportion, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria, we should have at least 60,000 ATMs installed but only 15,000 ATMs are available to serve the teeming population. The number of people with ATM cards keeps increasing by the day, despite the shortfall in ATMs and Nigeria still ranks higher in ATM usage,” he said.

Agada, who agreed that ATMs come with some issues, however said these problems are overstated.
“The core issue we have with the ATMs are that we don’t have enough of them and the few around are overwhelmed,” he said.

The CWG boss, who also spoke against the background of ATM related fraud in the country, said it is not peculiar to the Nigeria environment, but a global challenge that is receiving attention from various quarters.

“As far as ATM security is concerned, Nigeria is more secured compared to places like the United States of America or U.K. In Nigeria we have many measures being deployed to curb the problem of ATM-related fraud. We also have PIN-Shield, security cameras, mirrors, encryption technology, anti-phishing devices fixed on the ATM and we are not resting on our oars,” he said.

The ICT expert, who emphasised that no technology is completely impregnable, said: “There’s nowhere you carry out transactions, without the risk of some likely fraudulent potential. You will recall that the Central Bank of Bangladesh was scammed and lost 80million dollars to fraud which has gone untraced till date.”

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