As a cash economy, the Naira re-design policy of the federal government brought scarcity of the currency making it difficult for most people to do business the way they would want to; BENJAMIN UMUTEME writes.
By February 10, when the deadline to return old cash expired, it had become obvious to business owners on the one hand and some Nigerians on the other hand that they may have to adopt new strategies in their daily business transaction. With a penchant for engaging majorly in cash transactions, experts had asserted that the new policy would change forever the way business is done in Nigeria.
Several things have changed as accessing cash became a very big challenge for Nigerians. Initially, people were unable to access cash, which began to impact on businesses with business owners lamenting low patronage.
As the scarcity of cash became glaring, many resorted to the use of bank transfers to carry out their purchases.
Edafe Samuel told Blueprint that for the past two weeks, he has done all his purchases through bank transfers. However, this has not come without its embarrassment, he added.
According to him, on a certain day, he was detained at a supermarket for close to one hour due to a bad network.
“On another occasion, I went to one of the relaxation spots here in Jikwoyi to cool off with my friends. We had to wait for another hour before we could leave. All this was due to network challenges.
“It would have been an embarrassment for me and my friends because none of us could put together a boost of N5000. That is how bad the situation is,” he said.
Survival strategies
Speaking with this reporter, political economist Adefolarin Olamilekan said the policy has introduced innovation and changed the way business is conducted.
He noted that petty trades and road side hawkers and many others have had to devise means of survival in the midst of naira scarcity.
According to him, everybody is forced to operate based on suitability to their businesses and transaction model.
“Take for instance, provisions store owners accepting transfers through their bank account.
“Another example is that business owners now also give out cash to their customers through PoS transactions. A customer can buy goods of N10, 000 and transfer N15,000 to the business owner and you will be charged about N500 and a cash of N4,500 will be given back to the customer. However, this kind of deal depends on your relationship with the owner of that business.
“Nevertheless, the entire implementation of the policy has really brought out a deep sense of innovation in cash and business transactions in Nigeria. Thus, depicting the level of how Nigerians generally are developing a new set of resilient skills and business intelligence on a daily basis.”
Navigating the times
In spite of the situation, small business owners are able to navigate the seeming challenges associated with cash scarcity. Chidi, who manages a store which sells household goods, said he stopped dealing in cash before the policy was introduced. According to him, it was as though he saw ahead of time.
“Due to the high rate of robbery, I had switched to making transfers for my customers and even those who come to buy for me mostly pay with transfer. I was initially concerned with the policy but then I later realised that it didn’t affect me much,” he said.
For her, a trader in consumer goods, who simply identified herself as Mrs. Adeoye, most of her suppliers discourage payments in cash and thus the policy does not affect her business.
“I used to always have a lot of cash from those who come to buy from me but since the Covid-10, a lot more people are doing a transfer which is better for me because I don’t have to worry much about the security of having to carry so much cash to the bank,” she said.
Business as usual
For some other business owners, it continues to be business as usual. They continue to insist that every transaction should be cash backed.
With outrageous charges by Point of Sales (PoS) operators they say it would be better to have their goods in the store than to collect transfers and use part of their profit to pay PoS outrageous charges.
For instance, some PoS operators collect as much as N3, 000 for N10, 000
A trader popularly referred to as Mama Sule, who deals in millet, told some customers pointedly that she would not collect transfers from them saying that she did not have a bank account.
At the Karshi market, in Abuja, traders refused bank transfers from many who had thronged the market to buy goods.
Many who had gone to the market to buy goods had to return empty handed as they could not make any purchase.
“My brother, you can see that I am just coming back from Karshi market, I couldn’t buy anything. At the first stand I went to buy yam, the woman told me that if I don’t have cash she won’t sell it. I thought it was a joke, until I went to another woman, who repeated the same thing. After four times, I had to advise myself to leave the market,” a distraught Mrs. Dare told this reporter.
Others said they were afraid that they might lose money due bad internet connectivity or inability of the bank apps to function.
Another trader in Jikwoyi who sells vegetable oil said: “I don’t accept transfers. What am I selling?” I don’t even have a bank account.”
“I sell only to people with cash,” a woman that sells seasoning cubes and other spices at Bodija Market said. “I don’t know anything about these transfers.”
A trader who did not want his name in print told Blueprint Weekend that due to a bad network many bank transfers have not been received by expectant traders.
He said that several days after many transfers for goods he bought from a colleague, the person was yet to receive it and had been disturbing him.
“Someone did a transfer to my bank account for the goods I sold to him but I have not seen the money.”
Remi Ogundele, who sells herbs, seeds, roots, and other traditional medicine at Nyanya Market, explained that since the scarcity, sales had not been good. He said people really wanted to buy things from her, but there was hardly any cash to do so.
“Yes, I accept transfers, but bad network makes things difficult,
“I’ve not seen the alerts till date. I’ve been calling them and they kept telling me that the network is the problem,” she lamented.
