Cybercrime, Illiteracy Threat to Cashless Economy Policy, Says former UACN Director

Ayodeji Ake

Former director  at UAC of Nigeria Plc and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) expert, Dr. Joe Dada, said cybercrime, iliteracy, poverty and insecurity, major threat to Nigeria’s cashless economy.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos yesterday, during the official launch of the book, titled, ‘Cashless Economy’,with it foreword  written by the former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Tunde Lemo, Dada, noted Nigeria has the resources to drive the economy better than it is.

He said: “The book delves deeper, not only to the identification of the headwinds challenging the cashless economy, especially cybercrime, corporate governance, poverty , illiteracy , financial inclusion, insecurity and the ever-escalating debt overhang but proffering solutions to mitigate them.

“As we stated in the foreword, this new book , which is a vivid description of our journey to a cashless economy in Nigeria, which commenced in 2012 under the Sanusi/ Lemo era “is certainly relevant to the public at large”. The reason is obvious. And that is because, “all of us, irrespective of our background and fields, interact with the financial sector through the only ubiquitous language; money.

In the book, Dada made reference to Kenya, Zimbabwe, Norway and India economy , how they were able to implement cashless economy successfully.

“To ease the tickle buds come the well-articulated foreword highlighting the ingredients of what cashless economy truly is. It states the historical perspective, the rationale behind it, the challenges within the Nigeria’s chequered economic journey and goes on to freely share the leading role of Sweden, the globally acclaimed leading country which has succeeded in reducing cash transactions to three per cent of payment volume. Not left out are other elegant experiments , specifically in other countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Norway and India,” he said.

In his review of the book,  Ayo Bajo, a journalist and President, Guild of Public Affairs Analysts of Nigeria (GPAAN), commended the author  for its timeless in the crucial time of economic hardship when it’s needed.

“Going through this page-turning book, one gets more informed about the good aspects of the cashless economy. These include promoting the use of electronic currency to reduce dependence on cash trade actions, replaced by electronic means of financial transactions.

“Beyond its timeliness, the author has done a brilliant, insightful work by having a holistic perspective of the subject matter. It is broad-based such that though Nigeria is its main concern, the world, especially developing countries stand to gain and immensely so from its rich contents.

“Furthermore, the reference and further reading provide additional sources for the readers to glean from. In the words of Lemo: “The book is a good reference for the operators in the financial services industry, economists ,  captains of industry and policy managers who stand to benefit from the new cashless economy,” he said.