CREATING A BIG CHANGE

I remember how hard it was to implement the cashless policy in Nigeria, at the end, the project failed and we had to revert back to using cash. Some said there was a hidden agenda behind the policies alongside other rumors that sparked then. At the end of the day, the only thing I can say is that the policy failed. People who have not experienced what it really means to live cashless may think that it is just about creating a policy and withholding cash. The fact is that if a cashless reform should take place, and it is forced to be effective immediately, a lot of people will go broke and some will become poor overnight. There will be economic disaster starting from the first 24 hours and then the prices of goods and services will be forced to go down drastically as demand will immediately become low. I can not even begin to imagine the level of catastrophe this would cause, and this would be one of the few things people will hardly recover from.

Image by DC Studio on Magnific

Bringing in cashless policy would require a lot of planning and strategizing. The government will first give time for people to fully exchange their cash, they will need to gradually learn how this whole cashless living works. The banks will immediately stop producing and giving cash, while people will only be allowed and advised to deposit their money. This whole process needs at least six months to be fully implemented. This is because if it is enforced, the first people to suffer it will be the ordinary market traders. Those with little or no education who are not used to the automatic banking system. They will need to be taught how to use smartphones or use the ATM services. You might think everyone knows how to use it, but will be shocked by the large number of people who do not know. We will also put into account the small roadside vendors who hawk on the streets and sell in small scales. They will need a way to transact effortlessly else their means of livelihood will be cut short.

The people that will suffer the brunt of such change will be criminals and corrupt politicians who have stacks of cash in their possessions. These people will now need to find a way to deposit the huge cash they have without raising suspicion. To be honest the cashless policy has its good sides, it will reduce the influence of criminal activities that need physical cash, but I guess it will only make people dive into crypto the more. But you see that migrating from cash to crypto without liquidating cash would be the first major challenge. For a brief moment, the government will be able to monitor peoples account, the power they have always wanted and either way, people will lose money at the end of the day, especially when they can’t account for the money (cash) they have

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S
PROMPT FOR WEEK 227 EPISODE 2