Lagos traders not prepared for cashless economy 
Lagos traders not prepared for cashless economy
As the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) goes cashless , markets in Ikeja; Balogun Market in Idumota among other places visited by People’s Daily in showed low preparation to go cashless.
The trades lamented poor information about the policy while a few others claimed complete ignorance on the envisaged policy introduction.
Samuel Akitu, who deals in of computers in Ikeja, said many Nigerians are not adequately informed by the CBN on how the policy operates.
“Many of our customers who buy up to 300,000 to one million worth of goods daily are not inform we don’t have enough POS machine so how do we go cash less” he queried.
Also, the leader of New Computer Traders Association, Mr. Eze Nbueze said its members handle more than N100 million worth of transactions daily. “All together, we handle more than N100 million here daily; the CBN does not make provision for we the traders but we will encourage our members to embrace it”.
Also at Balogun market, some traders said the policy is dead on arrival. “I am not aware that I will not be able to deposit or withdrawal N150,000 but if government wants it like that, we will go back to our traditional method of saving money,” Mrs. Akin Olaosebikan told People’s Daily.
The African Renaissance Party (ARP) Lagos state chapter argued that the CBN cashless policy is a new year economic disaster package to Lagosians, the policy is doomed to become a colossal failure right from the point of commencement and indeed have exposed the CBN governor as incompetent and inexperienced.
The state chairman of the party, Udoka Udeogaranya in a statement said, “Lagos state, chosen by CBN to experiment their cashless policy, is not ripe for a programme that has to be effective right from the word go. The effectual implementation of an all encompassing cashless policy has no chance in a state that struggles with poor electricity supply, poor information technology services, poor ICT maintenance units and poor ICT literacy.
“We dare the CBN governor to visit a merchant city like Guangzhou in China and see how the Chinese government, which is austere with its economy, yet allow merchants to have their way there, while industrial cities like Ningbo, Yiwu and Xiemen can thrive with over regulatory financial policies. In the livelihoods of merchants it is cash first and prices varies, therefore regulations are minimized.
“This cashless policy will see retrenchment of bank staffs as many of the work will now be piled up for information technology gadgets to do and which will culminate into high rate of unemployment that is already a threat to the nations security”.
Cash deposit or withdrawals exceeding the stipulated of N150, 000 (for individuals) and N1 million (for corporate bodies) would not attract the punitive processing charge on the commencement of the pilot scheme in Lagos on Sunday, January 1, 2012.
The trades lamented poor information about the policy while a few others claimed complete ignorance on the envisaged policy introduction.
Samuel Akitu, who deals in of computers in Ikeja, said many Nigerians are not adequately informed by the CBN on how the policy operates.
“Many of our customers who buy up to 300,000 to one million worth of goods daily are not inform we don’t have enough POS machine so how do we go cash less” he queried.
Also, the leader of New Computer Traders Association, Mr. Eze Nbueze said its members handle more than N100 million worth of transactions daily. “All together, we handle more than N100 million here daily; the CBN does not make provision for we the traders but we will encourage our members to embrace it”.
Also at Balogun market, some traders said the policy is dead on arrival. “I am not aware that I will not be able to deposit or withdrawal N150,000 but if government wants it like that, we will go back to our traditional method of saving money,” Mrs. Akin Olaosebikan told People’s Daily.
The African Renaissance Party (ARP) Lagos state chapter argued that the CBN cashless policy is a new year economic disaster package to Lagosians, the policy is doomed to become a colossal failure right from the point of commencement and indeed have exposed the CBN governor as incompetent and inexperienced.
The state chairman of the party, Udoka Udeogaranya in a statement said, “Lagos state, chosen by CBN to experiment their cashless policy, is not ripe for a programme that has to be effective right from the word go. The effectual implementation of an all encompassing cashless policy has no chance in a state that struggles with poor electricity supply, poor information technology services, poor ICT maintenance units and poor ICT literacy.
“We dare the CBN governor to visit a merchant city like Guangzhou in China and see how the Chinese government, which is austere with its economy, yet allow merchants to have their way there, while industrial cities like Ningbo, Yiwu and Xiemen can thrive with over regulatory financial policies. In the livelihoods of merchants it is cash first and prices varies, therefore regulations are minimized.
“This cashless policy will see retrenchment of bank staffs as many of the work will now be piled up for information technology gadgets to do and which will culminate into high rate of unemployment that is already a threat to the nations security”.
Cash deposit or withdrawals exceeding the stipulated of N150, 000 (for individuals) and N1 million (for corporate bodies) would not attract the punitive processing charge on the commencement of the pilot scheme in Lagos on Sunday, January 1, 2012.
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