By Rarzack Olaegbe
Be grateful for the smallest things. Like a cashless policy. Instant funds transfer. The ability to use a smartphone. Some people in advanced economies like Japan cannot use a smartphone!
Is that the case in Nigeria? No. I am aware that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is driving the effort to establish a cashless society. Its initiatives are pointing at promoting digital payments and reducing dependence on cash for over a decade.
Who cares about the digitally poor in Nigeria? Yes, the CBN cares. It used to care about the digitally poor in Nigeria. In 2012, it worked through a non-governmental organisation, the E-payment Provider Association of Nigeria (EPPAN), to drive and educate market women. The digitally poor in rural and urban areas learnt so much about the cashless policy. The target market learnt how to use the smartphone, point of sales and funds transfer.
The programme was a success. It brought the CBN closer to the digitally poor then. Therefore, who cares about the digitally poor in Nigeria? I do not know the story now. If you do, please, reach out.
On the one hand
In 2022 Japan, research shows that the overall penetration rate of mobile devices. This includes smartphones and conventional mobile phones. The figure is 85.6 per cent. The number of smartphone users in Japan amounted is 86.6 million in 2022. This could grow to more than 95 million by 2028. Experts say Japan’s smartphone market is indeed thriving!
On the other hand
The Nigerian smartphone market will hit 140 million by 2025. The forecast predicts that the number of smartphone users in Nigeria will exceed this figure. This growth is driven by factors such as a young population.
In the long term
To promote the cashless policy in Japan, the government is encouraging the elderly people to participate in the programme. To this end, the city holds seminars teaching these digitally poor people to operate smartphones. Did the Nigerian government teach you to operate the smartphone?
Who is teaching our digitally poor elders to operate the smartphone and use the ATM? The federal government did a similar exercise at the outset of the cashless policy. Like Nigeria, Japan is also notorious for its reliance on cash. Japan has been staging electronic payment uptake drives to stimulate digitalized consumption by granting shopping points for transactions using QR codes.
The local government of Hanamaki city office assists people at mobile shops. Other local governments have set up consultation services within their buildings. This push is to drive the uptake of the cashless programme.
Kyodonews.net reports that the training has become increasingly popular. But the elderly are unhappy. Some are reluctant. That is the elderly people and others who find digital devices difficult to operate and have continued to view cash as the be-all and end-all for making purchases.
Unlike Nigeria, Japan has an abnormally large elderly demographic. That is the reason for the lack of enthusiasm about adopting electronic payment systems. Mitsugu Setoguchi, a section chief at the city’s industrial promotion division dealing with commerce and enterprise, suggested teaching people how to use smartphones is the quickest way of getting them to go cashless.
“First and foremost, we hope to use this opportunity of having people learn about cashless payments to familiarize them with how to operate smartphones,” he said.
In the short term
In Japan, getting the digitally poor who put their faith in cash to change over to cashless payments is a herculean task. Not so in Nigeria. That is enough reason to be grateful.
