The level of card-related fraud in Nigeria has fallen by ‘over 90%’ since the changeover from magnetic stripes and channels to chip-and-pin cards, says the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

"I am happy to disclose that there has been over 90% drop in card-related fraud. This is largely because of the introduction of chip-and-pin complaint channel(s) on our arms across the country," said the head of the shared services office at CBN, Chidi Umeano.

Umeano, though, has not given the exact number of incidents of card-related fraud in the country.

Meanwhile, he said CBN has further been making headway in transforming the sector into a ‘cashless society’.

Nigeria’s cashless society policy urges a moderate shift from using cash to using cards.

He said the cumulative number of Point of Sales (POS) terminals connected to the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) stood at 117,412 as of April.

This represents an increase of over 249% as at end of January 2012, he added

CBN says it has also reached its target of purchasing at least 10,000 POS terminals for vendors in the country, while the number of registered merchants has reached 184,182 as at the end of April this year.