The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has declared that the national rollout of the country’s cashless programme may not be possible by January, 2013 as statistics tendered by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) depicts that 87.7 percent of transactions in Nigeria are still done with cash.
While speaking on the “Impact of cashless policy on the banking industry and How banks can leverage credit bureau services to accelerate growth” at the 2012 forum of Bank Directors Association of Nigeria (BDAN), in Lagos; CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said a final review of the financial activities of the nation in the last 10 months has clearly indicated that the nation is not ready for the cashless scheme national rollout in January 2013.
The CBN boss noted that heavy dependence on cash remains a challenge that needs to be addressed, as $11 billion have been laundered through Nigeria airports in the last 10 months, further devaluing the Naira. He also said that banks would not lend to the real sector of the economy if proper reforms were not put in place.
The cashless policy programme, which was flagged-off as a pilot scheme in Lagos early this year, has not met with CBN expectations as 87.7 percent of transactions were still being done with cash and only 25,000 Point of Sale terminals were active, out of the 180,000 terminals deployed.
Sanusi said there are lingering issues of inter-operability as well as network challenges which need to be addressed before we eventually rollout to other states.
“I made a mistake by allowing the cash-less exercise run on GPRS services. Services rendered by telecommunications operators have not helped the pilot scheme of the cash-less exercise. We need to make the telcos accountable for the kind of services rendered to the Nigerian public,” the CBN Governor said.
He stated that “Nigerian banks have a role to play in enhancing the effective implementation of the cash-less policy and financial inclusion. The more people who are financially included, the better the control of monetary policy and macro-economic stability.”
“Banks in Europe have become successful as a result of their ability to harness technology. If financial institutions in Nigeria standardise their processes, things would work better and funds can be channeled to other productive areas”.
