After years of losing ground to Point-of-Sale (PoS) agents, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) are making a comeback as transaction volumes rise while PoS volumes decline.
In the first quarter of 2026, Nigerians made 438.6 million ATM transactions, up 6.6% from the previous year, according to data released on Friday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Transaction value grew 64.6% year-on-year to ₦26.3 trillion ($19.4 billion).
PoS transaction volumes fell 19.9% year-on-year to 2.92 billion in Q1 2026, while transaction value fell 16.4% to ₦59.3 trillion ($43.7 billion).
These changes could redraw Nigeria’s cash-access network. PoS agents spent years filling the gaps left by scarce and unreliable ATMs, becoming the preferred way for millions of Nigerians to get cash. But as ATM transactions rise and PoS volumes decline, banks are beginning to reclaim a role agents had steadily taken from them.
ATMs are making a comeback
Nigeria’s first ATM was installed in 1989 by Société Générale Bank, a French commercial bank, and through the early 2000s, commercial banks and independent ATM deployers accelerated growth. By 2021, there were about 22,600 ATMs across the country. But years of underinvestment, out-of-service machines, empty cash trays, and network problems had reduced the number of active ATMs to 16,714 by mid-2024.
As ATM availability declined, PoS terminals, led by fintechs like Moniepoint and OPay, increasingly filled the gap. In March 2025, Nigeria had 8.36 million registered PoS terminals, with 5.90 million active or deployed.
With an estimated population of 237 million, Nigeria has about one PoS terminal for every 28 people, compared with 13 ATMs per 100,000 adults in 2024, according to the World Bank.