Cashless Lagos, Are we getting there or we are drifting Far Away

The cashless policy, introduced to make Nigeria less reliant on cash-based transactions, was aimed at reducing the amount of physical cash in circulation, as well as encouraging electronic-based transactions, modernise payment systems, and drive development in line with Nigeria’s vision 20:2020.

The cashless policy stipulates a cash handling charge on daily cash withdrawals or cash deposits that exceed N500,000 for individuals and N3,000,000 for corporate bodies. Its goal was to improve the effectiveness of monetary policy in managing inflation and driving economic growth, as well as curbing the negative consequences associated with high usage of physical cash in the economy, which encourages robberies, money laundering and other cash-related crimes.

Accordingly, Cashless Lagos, as a pilot platform, kicked off on 1 January 2012, but is expected to extend to other parts of the country by 1 January 2013.

Six months down the Line

ATM Machines
Internet Transfers
Online Banking
NIBSS System
POS Terminals, and others

Are we getting there?