How Nigerians Can Embrace Cashless Economy, By Utomi

FOR Nigeria’s quest for a  cashless economy to succeed, the country must identify and create a coalition of beneficiaries and sell the benefits of the scheme to them.

Prof Pat Utomi stated this yesterday in a pre-induction lecture of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), titled “Communications Challenges in Nigeria’s Cashless Economy” in Lagos.

He said the fears of Nigerians arising from the loss of time from banking processes and other challenges made them resistant to the idea of a cashless economy.

The News Agency of Nigeria quoted him as saying that those who feared the transition to a cashless society were, however, the most likely beneficiaries of the policy, adding that if the beneficiaries are identified and convinced, people would accept the idea.

Nigerians, he said, should be made to see that smaller African countries had gone cashless, noting that the key issue of communication, which the lecture dealt with, started with advertising practitioners understanding the decision-making process of buyers.

“How do consumers behave? What is their motivation in consumption transactions and how does the use of cash versus cashless money exchange affect their transactions?

“It is only with a clear understanding of that that we can structure communication that can reduce resistance to this kind of challenge that we see in the land,” he said.

Utomi observed that Nigeria was about to explode economically, and embracing the cashless economy would place the country at a competitive advantage that would favour its people.

The professor stated that lack of digital culture, poor banking processes in Nigeria and culture of corruption of agencies that did not give accurate reports of monetary transactions discouraged people from imbibing the cashless economic culture.

He warned that if Nigerians aborted the opportunity to make their markets more competitive by going cashless at this time, they would be doing great disservice to their children.

Utomi also called on APCON to do something about the climate change challenge, which was causing flooding across the country.

Earlier, the Chairman of APCON, Mr. Laolu Akinwunmi, said the lecture would enable Nigerians understand why they need to embrace the cashless culture.

He said that as a people, Nigerians like carrying cash but need to be taught how to transit from a cash economy to a cashless one to boost the nation’s economic environment.