Cash to Cashless: Creating Right Framework for Effective Economy

 

Advancing into a cashless society is a desirable goal for any nation with serious intention about being among the top economies in our present global environment. Achieving a totally cashless society may be impossible, but dethroning “King Cash” is a must, before a nation can be referred to as “advanced”.

There are many things to gain by advancing towards a cashless society. Gains abound for the citizens, the country and the economy as a whole. Yes, I know that cash feels good to spend. You can actually feel the velvety touch of a crispy one thousand naira note when you fondle it.

You can feel like a king when you pull out the wads of crispy notes and count them to make a purchase. It does feel nice when you put your hands in your pocket and watch the eyes of your beneficiary roll and get bigger as you give him a few of those notes. Surely, “Cash is King”.

However, this particular king, I dare say, has sat too long on the throne. It is about time he descended for a successor to take over this seat. What do they say about absolute power? It corrupts absolutely. Power to cash has actually defined this.

Most of the problems in the developing nations can be traced to cash. The sight; the feel; and indeed, the exhilaration that comes with spending cash have caused a lot of havoc to our system. Therefore, it is advisable that we get a more refined ruler on the throne of payment and this ruler is “cashless”. When I say “cashless”, I mean e-payment.

E-payment is the mode of payment which does not involve cash or paper cheques. It could be the use of bank and credit cards, direct debits, online payments or ACH payments, etc. Around the globe, from the North Pacific to the South Atlantic Ocean, every government is trying to promote better services to its people and one sure way of getting it right is to develop e-payment.

E-payment promotes transparency in government, giving the people opportunities to assess and score their government. E-payment frustrates corruption in public places and builds trust among the citizenry for their leaders. Individuals experience comfort, convenience and better savings. That is what today's customer is demanding.

People have grown so sophisticated that you cannot take them for granted anymore. Heed this warning: the world is a global village accessed only by a click on a PC in the individual's room. Customers will go anywhere around the globe to shop for what they want, no matter how insignificant it could be.

With e-payment, there is no barrier. As for the economy, e-payment greatly enhances its performance as the real cash is left in the hands of those that need it. While all the plastic money is going around, the banks can invest the cash in their possession and this facilitates national development.

E-payment does not just happen. It takes a lot of work. You have to consider technology, infrastructure and culture. A nation has to be serious in order to reap the benefits accruable to e-payment. Everyone must be involved. You cannot leave it to government alone, or to the private sector or the public. Strategic decisions have to be taken at all levels and in all quarters.

Providing e-payment is expensive; so you cannot handle it as a child's play. All frameworks must be put in place. Preparedness for changes must be in place also. There must be infrastructure framework thoroughly thought out. Due consideration must be given to an efficient and affordable technology. Efficiency and affordability must be married so that the result would not be a White Elephant project.
Another framework that must be considered is the legal framework. This is the skeleton of the entire process. In the absence of the legal framework, the system is only doomed to fail. Investors will lose their investments, a few crooks will clean out on innocent savings and then we will be back to square one. So that implies that we also need to put the risk framework in place, this is the thrust of the business.

When all these frameworks have been put in place, we can now start talking about shifting the consciousness of the citizens from cash to cashless. This, I promise you, will be a good strategy for dethroning “King Cash”. Remember where we started? You think you like to advance your nation from “underdeveloped?” This is a good starting point.