Why Nigerians are reluctant of going cashless

The rise in the availability of smartphones and a decrease in the cost of data have made banks increase their campaign of getting customers use bank apps for transactions. This and other reasons have also caused an astonishing increase of online markets and point of sales (POS) machine in supermarkets and other business places all […]

The rise in the availability of smartphones and a decrease in the cost of data have made banks increase their campaign of getting customers use bank apps for transactions. This and other reasons have also caused an astonishing increase of online markets and point of sales (POS) machine in supermarkets and other business places all over the country. The hope of which is a country that will go cashless within the shortest possible time and to also lessen the burden of banks dealing with large number of people in their halls.
The cashless policy comes with bunch of benefits that cannot be over emphasised. This is why so many countries have fully gone cashless that survival is possible with minimal interaction with hard currency. As for Nigeria, the policy may be struggling to sweep across the country due to fear of fraud by Nigerians, poor resolutions of technical issues by both banks and online stores in cases of wrongful deductions, exuberant changes and the absence of government agency that can swiftly address the hiccups faced by Nigerians using such online platforms and to compel banks and online stores to put robust systems in place that can provide best services to Nigerians in line with global best practices. hence going a very long way in reducing errors due to erroneous deductions and  protection from hacking activities. Also, the lack of knowledge by some Nigerians on some basic etiquette on evading falling prey to ploys deployed by hacker have encouraged majority to play safe by sticking to conventional markets for purchases.
Being a proponent of online methods of payments over options such as payment on delivery, I’ve resisted all effort for explanations against making online payments. But recently, trying to make a purchase from a leading online store in the country that resulted to erroneous double deductions even as the order wasn’t completed, the inconveniency caused and the online store using all forms of rhetoric to shield their platform from an error emanating from their systems and the slowness of the first generational bank to revert the payment are enough reasons to convince me on why most Nigerians will continue to remain reluctant about going cashless.
Yahaya Idris, Abuja