Nigeria And The Cashless Policy

Omotayo Tajudeen

Nigeria And The Cashless Policy

To be sincere, this policy has affected so many things negatively including the rich and the poor. Regret is now the mother of the citizens.

I am a businesswoman. I love selling to people who pay immediately as well as those who do not have money at that immediate time but must pay my money when due. Selling is what I specialize in.

Nigeria is now operating on a cashless policy and to be sincere, people are not comfortable with it. The reason is not far-fetched. Most people don't know how to make a transfer with their phones. Those dealing with POS have added extra charges to their transfer fees. The network on the other hand is another issue we have here.

Now, let me tell you about the encounter I had with one of my customers. Just a few weeks ago, my customer came to my shop to buy some foodstuffs. I have known her for a long time even before I started the business. She has been my big-time customer and someone who I cannot reject goods from.

My husband can also stand in for her if he meets her buying foodstuffs on credit. She has been the best out of all my customers. Anytime she buys something on credit, it would not take up to two days to pay up the debt. This is one of the favorable reasons I love selling hoods for her. She bought foodstuffs worth $30 (approximately #15,000). I never objected as she has been buying even more than that and paying as of when due. She promised to pay it back at the end of the month. When it was month end, I was expecting my money, but could not see her. This was when I discovered that I have not been seeing her for some time now. I tried to inquire but her neighbor said she has traveled to her village.

Hmmm…. My heart began to beat so fast and different thoughts began to run over my head.

What if she ran away with my money? What if she stylishly packed her luggage at night and dashed into the thin air, what should I do? These are the questions that kept running over my head. I tried to ask her neighbor if she saw her traveling and what was the nature of her look when she was leaving. I have the belief that "NO HUMAN BEINGS MUST BE TRUSTED". She said,

She left with a small handbag with her daughter. I think she did not go that far.

I was melting and burning at the same time deep inside of me. This is a huge amount of money we are talking about. Another mind told me to calm down at least this is not the first time she is buying goods from me.

Two weeks have gone and she was nowhere to be found. I said to myself "my husband would be the one to pay for this". At least I was not ready to sell but he persuaded me to and now I'm the one suffering from it.

I told my husband about it but to my surprise, he said,

Honey!!! Calm down. This woman has been your big-time customer. She will come back with your money.

It's been three weeks now and she is not back yet. I was not myself.

After three weeks, she came back and do you know what I did? I could not wait a bit but rushed to her house immediately I saw her on a bike. I got to her house but saw no one. I was surprised when I saw someone else. I was not sure but knocked at her door. No one responded instead her neighbor came out from her apartment. She answered me by saying…

Oh…it's you again? She is not back yet.

I responded

But I saw her a few minutes ago on a bike or did I see someone else?

She was truly the one. I guess I ran too fast or maybe faster than the bike.

After some minutes, I saw her coming. I was so happy. The first thing I told her was,

Well done madam!!! Thank you for not paying my money before leaving.

I was so shocked to have heard from her that my money had been sent to my account. I had to check and cross-check properly but did not see any alert nor did I see any transfer made to my bank account through the bank app. I showed all these to her and she had to check through her account and discovered that it had been refunded.

What a heck!!! This woman wanted to raise my BP but thanks she could not.

In my presence, she made a transfer of the exact amount she was owing me. I checked through my account again and saw nothing. She tried it five times and each of these times was not successful.

Since she tried it in my presence, I now believed her. After a few hours, I saw an alert. I was happy to see my money. It was not up to two minutes, another alert came in again with the same amount and the same person. Within a few minutes again, another one entered. I received an alert five times.

Immediately she ran to my shop shouting, I'm finished…I'm finished….I'm finished…

Madam…how much did you see in your account? All the transactions I have been making have been successful and I got five times a debit alert. Please check through your account and sort me out.

I was laughing and replied her'

I saw five series of alerts. You need to give me your account details for me to make the transfer. She did just that and I made a transfer of $120 to her. Network was somehow not so good and was bouncing back. After a few minutes as she was still waiting, she received an alert of twice the amount. I was mad and told her to transfer it immediately which she did and so we settled ourselves.

Bank transfer sometimes gives issues and makes one look like a cheater.