Cashless project is gaining acceptance’- Central Bank of Nigeria

Nigeria began its Cash-less Project last year, with Lagos State as the pioneering the project.
The cashless project, initiated last year, is gaining acceptance, especially with support from the federal and state governments, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.
Monica Adoghe of Shared Services, Central Bank of Nigeria, who spoke at the Card, ATM and Mobile Expo 2013 which begun in Lagos on Tuesday, said transactions have increased in the number of Point-of-Sale, PoS, deployed and actually being used, while giving an update on the cashless policy implementation.
She said partnership with major stakeholders is key for the success of the entire program, moving forward. She also said that legislation is important in strengthening the success of the electronic payment landscape.
“There are presently two bills before the national assembly; the Payment System Management Bill and the Financial System Ombudsman Bill,” she said, adding that all of these efforts would move the Cash-less policy to the expected next level.
Nigeria began its Cash-less Project last year, with Lagos State as the pilot state for the project as Cash-less Lagos. The policy is also expected to go live in five more states by July 1, 2013. However, the programme has not been without its own challenges as reports still reveal that there is low adoption of the alternatives to moving cash around.
The Managing Director, Fleet Masters Limited, Biodun Olusanya, and the Managing Director Globasure Technologies Limited, Chris Ife, said though the Cash-less Project has started, Nigerians are yet to see the full impact of its offers.
“The Cashless policy is one of the most effective ways to counter corruption and crime. Corruption is a killer disease and we have to join hands to fight the monster in every possible way and the cash-less policy is one way to stop it.
“The electronic payment is the greatest weapon. If we take physical cash out of circulation, we would have won the first battle,” they said, adding that, as a country, we need to legislate against certain practices that encourage the menace.
They urged the legislators to make it a criminal offence for anyone to be caught with more money than the Central Bank has authorised. “Sanity may begin to be restored if cash is curtailed,”they said.

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