The Effects Of Cashless Policy On Nigerian Economy

Description

ABSTRACT

The paper examined the effect of CBN’S cashless policy on Nigeria economy. Given the policy’s objectives, the paper x-rayed the associated benefits of the policy; discussed the various aspects of cashless banking channels; and dissected the attendant challenges that may encumber its successful implementation. We adopted a descriptive research design; and the collected data were analyzed using content analysis. Four hypotheses were formulated to guide the study whereas our theoretical framework of analysis is Weingather’s capital rationing theory. The study discovered that when fully implemented; the policy will help in reduction of money laundering; act as a check on terrorist financing; ensure effectiveness of monetary policy; create more employment opportunities in the financial sector; provide evidence against bribe givers and takers especially among the civil servants and politicians; lead to growth in the real sector of the economy and impact positively on Nigeria economy. The paper made some suggestions that will make the policy to succeed. They include periodic review of the policy by the CBN to iron out grey areas; embarking on intensive awareness campaign and sensitization of the citizenry by the CBN; putting adequate security mechanisms in place to forestall Fraudulent practices; making power supply work efficiently and exempting cash enlargements on public holidays from cash management charges.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

• PROBLEM STATEMENT
• OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
• SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
• LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT
• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
• RESEARCH QUESTION
• HYPOTHESIS
• PROJECT ORGANISATION

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

• REVIEW OF THE STUDY
• THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE STUDY
• CONCEPT OF CASHLESS ECONOMY
• THE MECHANICS OF THE CASHLESS POLICY IN NIGERIA
• CASHLESS BANKING CHANNELS
• EXPECTED BENEFITS OF THE NEW CASH POLICY
• CHALLENGES OF CASHLESS ECONOMY

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

• RESEARCH DESIGN
• POPULATION OF THE STUDY
• SAMPLE SIZE
• SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
• METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
• METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0       RESULT ANALYSIS

• SECONDARY DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
• PRIMARY DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
• ANALYSIS OF DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES OF RESPONDENTS
• ANALYSES OF RESEARCH VARIABLES

CHAPTER FIVE

• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATION
• REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                              INTRODUCTION

1.1                                BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

As at today, Nigeria occupies the unenviable position of number one country in Africa with largest number of people with no access to financial services. According to data compiled by Micro Finance Information Exchange (MIX) last year, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo were found to have the largest gaps between populations living in poverty and those with no access to financial services-80 million in Nigeria and 48 million in the Congo. Besides, managing the few that have access to the banks is said to cost banks a huge amount of money with cash management taken a large chunk of the expenses. Also, the cost of printing new bank notes as a result of frequent handling is said to cost the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) terrifying amount annually. To address this and many other issues facing the banks and the nation‟s economy the CBN, introduced the cashless economic policy.

The initiative is to expand the horizon of banking and make financial services reachable to “Banking adults” at an affordable cost. According to CBN, (2011)a large number of Nigeria adults do not enjoy bank services, and this has serious economic and developmental implications. The overall goal of the cashless policy is to reduce adult exclusion rate from 46.3% in 2012 to 20% in 2020. According to CBN, (2012) financial inclusion is a development when adults have easy access to a broad range of formal financial services that meet their needs and are provided at affordable cost. Financial inclusion implies not only access but usage of a full spectrum of financial services including but not limited to payments, savings, credit, insurance and pension product.

 

According to Omotunde et al (2013), Cashless economy is an economy where transaction can be done without necessarily carrying physical cash as a mean of exchange of transaction but rather with the use of credit or debit card payment for goods and services. Ejiro (2012) in Omotunde et al (2013) posits that cashless economy policy initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is a move to improve the financial terrain but in the long run sustainability of the policy will be a function of endorsement and compliance by end-users. According to Tunde Lemon, the Deputy Governor of CBN, the CBN cash policy stipulates a daily cumulative limit of N150, 000 and N1, 000, 000 on free cash withdrawals and lodgments by individual and corporate customers respectively in the Lagos state with effect from March 30, 2012. Individuals and corporate organizations that make cash transactions above the limits will be charged a service fee not be eligible for encashment over the counter with effect from January 1, 2012. Value for such cheques shall be received through the clearing house. All Nigerian banks were expected to cease cash in transit lodgment services rendered to merchants and customers from January 1, 2012.

Omotunde et al (2013) further clarified that the policy through the advanced use of information technology facilitates fund transfer, thereby reducing time wasted in Bank(s). Wizzit, a fast growing mobile banking company in South Africa has over three hundred thousand customers across South Africa. Likewise, M-PESA was introduced in Kenya as a small value electronic system that is accessible from ordinary mobile phones. According to them, it has experienced exceptional growth since its introduction by mobile phone operator (Safaricam) in Kenya in March, 2007 and has already been adopted by nine million customers, which is about 40% of Kenya‟s adult population. Wizzit and other mobile financial services including M-PESA in Kenya are helping low income Africans make financial transaction across long distance with their cell-phones, thereby reducing their travel cost and eliminating the risks of carrying cash and also avoiding most banking charges (Akintaro, 2012). It is assumed that the proper implementation of mobile phones and other technologies can aid the implementation of cashless policy and hence, the growth of cashless economy in Nigeria.

According to these scholars the introduction of the implementation of cashless policy began in Lagos State, Nigeria. Why Lagos? According to Central Bank of Nigeria (2011) Lagos state accounted for 85% of POS and 66% of cheques transaction in Nigeria. Cashless economy aims at reducing the amount of physical cash circulating in the Nigeria economy and thereby encouraging more electronic-based transaction. According to (CBN, (2012) the policy is expected to reduce cost incurred in maintaining cash-based economy by 90% upon its full implementation in Nigeria. This study aims to look at the effects of cashless economy in Nigeria.

1.2                                      STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Monetary policy as a technique of economic management to bring about sustainable economic growth and development through cashless policy and banking introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not fully operational due to high rate of illiteracy, inadequate sensitization/education of citizens on the benefits of the cashless policy, and inadequate logistics (such as the provision of internet connections in commercial areas, computers and Point on Sale (POS) machines). Apart from the physical challenges, economic data and indicators are not fully available and reliable. There is a great challenge in attempting to analyze the true impact of the cashless policy on the economy of Nigeria as only few monetary and macroeconomic indicators can be traced with relation to the subject matter. Several scholars have attempted to analyze the cashless system or e-banking. However, it becomes clear that few studies present a comprehensive evaluation of cashless banking implications in developing countries. Most ignore the economic benefits of the equation while some do incomplete examination of its negative implications. This is often due to unreliable panel data for monetary and macroeconomic indicators. Although, this study focuses on Nigeria, it is difficult to translate cashless studies from one country to another. Even payments instruments that look similar across countries on the surface may be different due to historical and legal variations (Daniel et al, 2004).

1.3                                                 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To examine what cashless policy is all about
2. To ascertain why the policy was introduced in the first instance
3. To verify the impact of the cashless policy on Nigeria
4. To identify the cashless banking channels
5. To find out the challenges confronting cashless policy in Nigeria
6. To suggest what should be done to make cashless policy a worthy policy in Nigeria?

1.4                                                SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Money is anything that serves as a medium of exchange. In Nigeria the most common medium of exchange is cash (naira notes and coins) which is why Nigeria is seen as a cash based (Acha, 2008a). Ajayi and Ojo. (2006) reinforced this statement when they opined that in Nigeria, cash is the main mode of payment and a large percentage of the populations are unbanked. Although cash as a means of payment confer certain benefits to economic agents but its cost to the economy is enormous. Apart from this, the use of cash has other ill consequences such as frauds, robberies, corruption, leakage of funds, mismanagement of public funds and so many others.

            1.5                               LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The primary data of this work were generated from customers of seven commercial banks in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and Owerri, Imo State of Nigeria. In Uyo, customers of four banks (FCMB, Zenith, Access and Sterling) were purposively sampled and administered with a total of 80 questionnaires with 20 questionnaires allotted to each bank’s customers. In Owerri, three banks (First, UBA and Diamond)

1.6                         SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The focus of this research is on the cashless policy on Nigerian economy.

This research will be a pointer to progenitor, scholars, social cities, policy analysts, and banks.  This study will help them to verify the impact of the cashless policy on Nigeria economy, to identify the cashless banking channels, and to find out the challenges confronting cashless policy in Nigeria.

1.7                                         RESEARCH QUESTION

Based on the foregoing, the questions the paper tends to raise are:

1. What is this cashless policy all about?
2. Why was it introduced in the first instance?
3. What are the effects of cashless policy on Nigeria economy?
4. What are the cashless banking channels?
5. What are the challenges of cashless policy?
6. What should be done to make cashless policy a worthy policy in Nigeria? These and more constitutes the main thrust of this

1.8                                                            HYPOTHESES

Ho:  Cashless policy has significant impact on the reduction of inflation in Nigeria.

H₁:   Cashless policy has no significant impact on the reduction of inflation in Nigeria.

Ho_:   Cashless policy has significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria.

H₁:   Cashless policy has no significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria.

1.9                                             PROJECT ORGANISATION

The work is organized as follows: chapter one discuses the introductory part of the work,   chapter two presents the literature review of the study,  chapter three describes the methods applied,  chapter four discusses the results of the work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the recommendations.