7/31/2019 What Nigerians think of the Cashless Economy policy

1/1

SURVEY

Another big leap in CBN policy?

No doubt, the cash-lesseconomy policy initia-tive o the Central Banko Nigeria (CBN) is amove that will improve

the nancial terrain but in the long

run, sustainability o the policy willbe a unction o endorsement andcompliance by end users. Te levelo endorsement can be eectivelygauged by research that bears theminds o the end users. In the lighto this, we conducted a survey todetermine among other things:

Te extent to which Nigeriansunderstand the cash-less economyinitiative,

Its level of acceptance, Te extent to which they per-

ceive the policy will ease businessor them , and

Changing attitudes towardsAM and online banking.

Its all about the peopleo achieve objectivity, respon-

dents were randomly selected romthe op/middle segment o soci-

ety as well as the Lower segment(Please, reer to ootnote or deni-tion o op/middle and Lower seg-ment as used in this research).Tey were reached through variouschannels, including: ocus groupdiscussions, online questionnairesand one-on-one interview.

Overall, 200 respondents romthe op/ middle segment and 150respondents rom the Lower seg-ment participated in the survey.Tey include teachers, doctors, trad-ers, artisans, researchers, media per-sonnel, bankers and students drawnfrom the six geopolitical zones. Akaleidoscope o inormation wasgathered at the end o the analysis.

Policy masked by informationasymmetry

From the analysis, it was discov-ered that there is a very wide dispar-ity between those who know what acash-less economy is and those whodo not between the two segments.When the dierent groups wereasked i they know what a cash-lesseconomy is, only 34.6 percent othe Lower segment said, yes, in theop/middle segment, 91 percentsaid, yes.

I these responses are combinedwith responses to the question:Will the cash-less economy policymake business easier or you? Onecan reasonably conclude that thewhole essence o the policy has notbe eectively disseminated acrossthe strata.

Fity-two percent o the op/middle segment said, yes, when theywere asked i the policy will makebusiness easier or them, 21 percentsaid, no, while 27 percent said Idont know. Most respondents inthe op/middle segment know whata cash-less economy is, but dontknow i it will make the way theyspend money remarkably easier.

It is said that i gold rusts, what

What Nigerians think of the cash-less economy policy

outlets deploy necessary technol-ogy, teach their sta and customers.Te thinking that power supply willdisrupt the implementation o thispolicy is rebued by our ndings. Itis clear that the policy is in the rightdirection; however, acceptance bythe generality will determine itssuccess or ailure.

NOE: In this research, op/middle seg-ment reers to highly educated individualswhohave a minimum o HND education. Inmost cases these individuals are acquaintedwith and use the internet. Te lower class ismade up o those with lower educationalqualifcations.

3BUSINESSDAY: www.businessdayonline.com Monday 27 February 2012

Special ReportThe Future of Money

will iron do? I 27 percent o theop/middle segment o the societyis ignorant o the eect the policywill have on their businesses, oneneed not look into a crystal ball toknow that ignorance on this subjectis still endemic. Tose in the lowersegment are the most ill-inormedabout how the policy will aect theirbusinesses.

When they were asked i the

policy will ease businesses or them,55 percent in the Lower segmentsaid, no, while the remaining 45percent said, yes, I do not know ordid not respond to the question atall. So, i the CBN ully implementsthe policy tomorrow, almost hal othose in the Lower segment and araction o those in the op/middlewill take it with jaundiced view.

We thereore asked the respon-dents i they are ready or the policy,again we saw disparity among thegroups. hose in the op/middlesegment were more afrmative thanthose in the Lower segment, 61.2percent in the op/middle segmentsaid they are ready, while 38.8 per-cent said they are not. In the Lowersegment, only 26.9 percent said

they are ready. Amazingly, duringone o the ocus group discussions,a respondents in the Lower seg-ment said she is not interested in apolicy that will require her to collectcheques in return or her tomatoes!

It must be said that not all thendings o the survey, which wasresponded to by mostly individualswithin the 25-50 years age bracket,were grey as the analysis conrmeda positive commonality in attitudestowards AM usage between the twogroups. Beore now, research hadpointed to decline in patronage oAM machines, but as things standcurrently, the gures on usage aregrowing across the segments.

Respondents were asked i theyhave AM cards and use them.Most respondents said they do. 84.4

percent o those in the op/middlesegment said they have and use theirAM cards while only 2 percent saidthey dont trust the technology. 8.1percent said they have AM cardsbut do not use.

For the Lower segment, 61.2percent said they have AM cardsand use them. Only 10 percent saidthey dont have and dont want.his change in attitude may notbe unconnected with the trend oimproving security in the technol-ogy, its time saving capacity and theact that there is more education onusage now. In the same vain, thereis a warmer attitude towards onlinebanking among the op/middle seg-ment. Te lower segment is almostoblivious o what online banking is.

Finally, it was discovered that itis more likely or a op/middle seg-ment individuals to have more thanone account (70 percent o thosein this segment have at least three)than or a Low segment individual.Marketers looking to increase theirclientele base should take heed:conveying messages o better cus-tomer centric packages and more

less-educated peoples productscan win those in the Lower segmentto your banks.

Some more recommendationsSince the cash-less economy

project will eect major changes inthe way money is spent in Nigeria(the challenge is accentuated by thelevel o illiteracy), it will naturallytake some time to gain general ac-ceptance. Indeed, a change o thismagnitude should be preceded bya more aggressive public enlighten-ment campaign.

hough there have been at-tempts to drive the message across,

our research indicates that inorma-tion has not really tickled down tothe grass root. Even those at the op/middle segment do not ully under-stand how the policy benets them.he CBN and other stakeholdersshould invest in creatively bridgingthis inormation gap. In time past,government sold ideas using jinglesin various languages and throughdierent media; why has that notbeen done here?

Ten again, there should be ad-equate time between now and whenthe policy will be ully operational inthe pilot cities. Tis will allow retail

OBODO EJIRO Do you understand what a cash-less economy is?

Will the policy make business easier for you?

Are you ready for the cash-less economy the policy?

Do you still have and use your ATM card?

Source: BusinessDay Research