President Muhammadu Buhari was clearly and justifiably happy when the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele, presented the new monetary policy to members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) last week.
The President said the value of the N1000, N500 and N200 has been renewed: the new security features can make fraud difficult, the ability to make better financial plans, enriching the memory consolidation of the country’s heritage, opportunities to manage money that is circulating, reducing the accumulation of large corporations and the cost of money management.
For me the happy hour was when it was said that the redesigned coins were produced and printed in the country, a proof of the President’s faith in promoting the issues. in the country. The information was produced by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPM). Two issues are important here. It was said in the meeting that only four countries out of 54 Africa print their money in their countries.
The new currency is designed due to fraud and increased security problems seen after Nigerian President Mohammed Buhari (R) announced the new currency on November 23, 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria. Nigerian Presidency / Anadolu Agency (Image from the Nigerian Presidency / ANADOLU AGENCY / Anadolu Agency via AFP)
Nigeria is one of the four, something to be proud of, a proof that Nigeria still has some salvation. Secondly, this is happening at a time when many Nigerian doctors, medical workers and teachers are leaving the country in large numbers abroad. They call it Japa, the desire to move out.
It was also pointed out, through the best examples, that paper money should be redone every five to eight years, but our money was redone. recovered nearly 20 years ago. Maybe that’s part of the reason there are so many dirty and worn out coins being circulated.
These are new books that may have been published within the last 19 years, which are controlled by bankers who sell to agents who want to show off as these papers are plastered on the faces and bodies of people celebrating birthdays, weddings, graduations and other meaningless social events.
As they fall and fall papers on the floor and other people are punished to show our walk these profits are piled up on the floor. The Central Bank says this is illegal but it continues every week in different sessions.
For Nigerians there are new updates that will be a joy but they will not stay fresh for long and will not bring joy for a long time. Most of the information that is being circulated today is very dirty, as if it was passed through a dirty machine. Many are worn as if they’ve been through a shredding machine. A few days ago I was in a bank where gas was struggling with torn and dirty banknotes.
First, he had to separate the rag from the mud. He wore a nose mask even though no one else in the bank did. Everyone thinks, wrongly, that COVID-19 is dead but it is very much alive. The only difference is that doctors and even private people now know how to use it. Sorry for the mistake.
The girl takes a bundle of books and slams it on her desk and as the dust flows to me I have to fish out my mask and stick it to my nose. I didn’t want to swallow the dust. He then physically sorted the torn material from the almost torn material and put it into the scanner.
Many times they get stuck in the machine and he peels them out of the machine with his painted fingernails. I watched in awe as he innocently did a dirty job. It was unusual. This is the norm in most banks. If you don’t want them you can go home and starve.
The new currency is designed due to fraud and increased security problems seen after Nigerian President Mohammed Buhari (R) announced the new currency on November 23, 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria. Nigerian Presidency / Anadolu Agency (Image from the Nigerian Presidency / ANADOLU AGENCY / Anadolu Agency via AFP)
The CBN Governor is modeling a cashless economy. It works. It prevents you from physical seizure. This may prevent you from walking around with a lot of cash for transactions that can easily be done by punching in four numbers. But note that it cannot prevent many financial crimes that continue. Some thieves are now on the move with Point of Sale (POS) machines. They are also there to pay the price. For a cashless economy to work well, it has to be there.
In my local government area, Ukanafun, in Akwa Ibom State there are 87 villages. There is not a single bank and not even an ATM library. For you to have access to a bank or an ATM, you must travel for at least one hour.
For 87 villages, there is only one police station with one Hilux vehicle and about 50 police officers. Perhaps that is the case with many government facilities located in rural areas. The government of Ibrahim Babangida brought the concept of rural banking and the People’s Bank from Southeast Asia. They prospered there because they have proper infrastructure and their economy is more developed than Nigeria’s economy.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Nigerian banks closed 234 branches and 649 Automated Teller Machines (ATM) in 2020 causing a decline of 4.44 to 4.44 per year against 4.78 in 2019 .which in its Financial Opportunity Survey 2021 Trends and Developments.
The Fund uses two indicators of the number of commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults and the number of ATMs per 100,000 adults. According to the report, Nigeria recorded a decline in these two important indicators and 12 other indicators among the 64 indicators measured by FAS.
This was due to the decline in the number of commercial bank branches in Nigeria from 5, 392 in 2019 to 5, 158 in 2020. In the same way the number of ATMs per 100,000 people adults were able to get the country’s financial score. to fall from 17.19 in 2019 to 16.14 in 2020. The actual number of ATMs fell from 19, 459 in 2019 to 17.19 in 2020.
The report also showed a reduction in the number of mobile money registration offices in the country from 145, 800 in 2019 to 129, 154 in 2020. The reduction in those three areas is indicating a general decline in wealth and human opportunity c. These are financial resources that can create wealth without money. Emefiele said at the presentation of the new money that has been designed, the world has moved from a money-rich economy to a cashless economy.
It’s true, especially in developing countries, but for us to effectively implement this paradigm shift, there must be some necessary infrastructure. The two examples that the Governor mentioned that people can’t preach easily whether it’s 10,000 dollars or 10,000 pounds, are the United States and the United Kingdom.
Why this is useful in these two countries is because their economy is very developed and there are infrastructures for the efficient use of a cashless economy. In Nigeria, anyone who has used their ATM card to make a purchase will tell you where they go most of the time. You may get a “rejected” notice but it will take some time before you realize that the money has been paid.
Then you go to your bank, fill out a form and ask for your money to be put back into your account. Another option is to have the salesperson or cashier go to the room and see where the service is better. The final decision is for you and the cashier to turn yourself into prayer soldiers asking God or Allah for them to approve the transaction. I had to do that a few times. Sometimes prayer is answered; sometimes not. That’s how business goes in Nigeria. I doubt if that’s the way they go in the UK or the US.
Another thing to remember is that our unconventional economy has more workers than the conventional economy. Our informal economy is also mostly small and medium-sized. Our informal economy is also very rural and many of the things you need for a cashless economy do not exist. That is why people in such places keep their money under their pillows. They don’t take it to banks because there are no banks nearby. The People’s Bank and the small banks operating in the rural areas have failed, leaving the rural people without the support they had before the occupation. banks in their communities.
Another aspect that should be considered is that most of our small farmers, traders and artisans are mostly illiterate. A degree in education is required to operate successfully in a cashless economy. The United States and the United States have over 95% literacy. You can say the same thing about many other European and Asian countries.
Nigeria is still an illiterate society especially those living in rural areas. What this means is that a cashless economy that works well in Nigeria is still a few years away because of some of the things already mentioned. To a large extent, many people who live in the city are happy to flash their plastic in front of the cashiers because that is the proof that they are there apart from the ease of transactions when everything is fine.
Another thing that should be said is that the idea of a cashless economy is not a project of the Central Bank. Governments at different levels should buy into it so that they can help provide infrastructure that will make it happen in the near future.
The Central Bank should emphasize this in any meeting with federal, state and local officials. If they don’t all buy into it, the CBN will just be blowing in the wind even though the idea is good.
