POS AND FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN MAIDUGURI METROPOLITAN COUNCIL, BORNO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The advent of POS in the financial system heralded the decentralization of banks due to the several roles it plays. This study looks at one of such roles by assessing the effect of POS on financial inclusion in Nigeria. Specific objectives of the study include to assess the effect of POS on the affordability of financial services and to examine the effect of POS on accessing bank transactions by unbanked individuals. The population of the study were bank customers, which were 533, 418. Using Yamani formular, a sample size of 400 was arrived at. The study adopted convenient sampling as the method of sampling technique. It deployed Multiple linear regression to analyse the data using SPSS version 20. Findings of the study revealed that the presence of POS has significantly improved the availability of financial service in the city of Maiduguri. The study also showed that the presence of POS has significantly affected the affordability of financial service in the city of Maiduguri. The study therefore recommended that infrastructural architecture of the POS platforms nation-wide should be further revamped and spread to every part of the country as these will further attract people; especially the unbanked to the banking sector and Banks should further, work on reducing the numerous charges and deductions they engage in so as to reduce the perceive high cost of patronizing POS. this will encourage the low-income individuals to patronize POS terminals nationwide.