Ogun State Government has expressed its readiness to work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure a successful take off of the cashless policy in the State.
The State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun made this known today in his office in Abokuta while addressing a CBN delegation led by its Deputy Governor (Operations), Mr. Tunde Lemo during a courtesy visit to him. Represented by the Deputy Governor, Prince Segun Adesegun, Governor Amosun observed that as a highly mobile and industrious people who engage in different forms of economic activities, the cashless policy would be a welcome development as it would afford them the opportunity to do business without fear of attack from hoodlums. "Our people are very industrious, they have been engaging in business from time immemorial and I'm sure this policy will not only help their businesses to grow, but save them from being attacked as a result of having to carry cash around" Governor Amosun said. He said the policy would complement industrialisation initiative which was one of the key programmes of the present administration, assuring the delegation that the State government would help in sensitizing the populace on the need to embrace e-payment. Also speaking, the Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said the State was already practicing the cashless policy in its revenue collection, maintaining that the policy had helped in shoring up the revenue base of the State. In his presentation titled: "Cash-less Nigeria; The Journey so far", Mr. Lemo, said Nigeria was behind other comparative economies in terms of payment systems maturity with 41%, pointing out that countries like Indonesia, South Africa and Venezuela were at 4.5%, 1.9% and 35% respectively. He listed the consequences of high cash usage to include robberies, kidnapping, election rigging, high cost of cash handling and processing, revenue leaking and corruption, opining that alternative channels of payment would not only reduce these vices, but also have positive consequences on the nation's economy. Lemo added that the team was in the State to discuss cashless exercise that would soon take off in the State, adding that when it becomes operational, it would help increase the internally generated revenue base of the State, provide easy administration, monitoring and co-ordination of all revenue activities in the State as well as assist to identify fraudulent debts, diversion of fund and excess charges on the State accounts
Via: Ogun State Government - Official Press Release
Partnering Central Bank of Nigeria is never a bad idea for anything. Let's just pray it will all end well.