A total of 76 per cent of business transactions in Lagos is done using cash-less facilities provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria, a survey by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has revealed.

The survey, which was contained in the Cash-less Lagos Report made available to our correspondent on Friday, was said to have been conducted from October 2 to 22, 2012.

It employed a quantitative research design to garner necessary information from adult males and females across all the social classes and sectors of the economy.

According to the survey, six categories of respondents including individuals, companies, big retail outlets, open market shops, banks and e-payment companies were interviewed.

It stated that a total of 721 interviews were conducted across all the sectors of the economy, while 520 responses were utilised, with 26.1 per cent of respondents not having any form of bank account and were yet to be accommodated in the cash-less framework.

The report stated, “Campaign for the cash-less policy is overwhelming, as 80 per cent of the respondents across sectors of the economy claimed awareness for the policy.

“Over three quarter (76 per cent) of the respondents espoused that they use cash-less facilities (ATM, online, credit/MasterCard, POS and mobile money) for their business transactions. Company (89 per cent) and trade (78 per cent) recorded the highest patronage level.”

On the main mode of payment across all sectors, the study revealed that 35 per cent of respondents used cash as their main mode of payment for business transactions, followed by ATM, 23 per cent; cheque/overdraft, 16 per cent; online transaction, nine per cent; credit/MasterCards, six per cent; and mobile money, three per cent.

It said the use of Point of Sale machines was eight per cent, adding that “the main mode of payment is impressive in view of the fact that the facility is not yet available everywhere like ATM machines.”

The LCCI noted that the major reasons contributing to the non-usage of the cash-less platforms were safety and quality of service.

It said the specific reasons mentioned included; safer to use cash, 32 per cent; high service charge, 17 per cent; customers’ rejection, 16 per cent; not reliable, 10 per cent; doesn’t handle large sum of money, nine per cent; prone to error, six per cent; increased spending, four per cent; not available everywhere, three per cent; and it takes time to get an ATM card, three per cent.

The survey showed that a cross section of the respondents, representing 54 per cent, expressed displeasure at the service charge paid for using cash-less facilities, as against 47 per cent who considered it moderate.

“Specifically, 60 per cent of companies’ representatives considered the service charge high; individuals, 54 per cent; and trade, 56 per cent.”

Source: Punch (written by Okechukwu Nnodim)