Despite the communication strategies and various fora that have in recent time been put in place to educate Nigerians on the cashless policy, only a handful of consumers at the lowest part of the market pyramid are in tune with the trend.

Some consumers who spoke to THISDAY in Lagos wondered how the system will work in local areas. Mr. Godwin Ibekwe, a spare part dealer in Ogba, though appreciated the fact that the situation would guide members of the public from carrying cash around.
He feared that infrastructure problem arising from network failure and erratic power supply could be stumbling blocks.

Another consumer, Mrs. Grace Adikwu, said she was yet to understand how the operation would work as there are millions of people who are not aware of the development or cannot come to term with how it would work.

“As I talk to you, the issue of cashless policy is still like mirage to some market women. To a large number of our people, the belief is that the cashless policy is a service that would only be rendered in the big stores and companies” she said.

A Marketing Communication Analyst, Mr. Gani Olowu, faulted the campaigns that are currently run to educate the public. He argues that some of the creative and television commercials were not conceptualised to connect the common people on the street.

To this end, the practitioner urged CBN and its creative agency to go back to drawing board and come up with something that would be understood by an average person on the street.

Chief Executive Officer of the Total Aluminium, Mr. Frank Owelle has however described the cashless policy as an initiative that would help Nigerians overcome a lot of problems. According to him, aside security, the initiative will each transaction.

It will be recalled that the Chartered Institute of  Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN)  recently called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to intensify the  public sensitisation campaign on the policy.

Speaking  in Ibadan, the Oyo State Chairman of CIBN, Mr Abiola Alli,  said the  policy was not being adequately publicised.

Alli said that more needed  to be done in the area of mass enlightenment as  many Nigerians were yet to be adequately enlightened on the initiative.
“The Central Bank needs to create a lot of awareness; they need to place a lot of jingles on the radio and  the television.

“People must be aware that this policy is coming up because majority of these  people are not even aware that this thing is coming up.
“Even people in urban areas, some of them are not aware that this policy is coming up, so you need to do a lot of sensitisation programmes so that this people will become aware,”  he said.

Source: Thisday/Raheem Akingbolu