The question of if the government should get rid of cash currency so that we can only use digital means of payment is something I would love to approach, relating it to my country.
This is because this move might be doable without hiccups in other countries but not mine at the moment; we can't successfully go completely digital, and I will tell you why and what I think.
I know recently, I was thinking of when my country will start accepting crypto for payments, and I know it's something obtainable depending on the kind of president we might have in the future.
I remember the time digital transfer was very rare; you could hardly see traders who would accept that you make payments through transfers, but today, with the scarcity of cash we experienced some years ago, my country started embracing digital payments here and there to the point that I can enter public transport and simply pay through bank transfer. I can buy street food and transfer the money instead of cash; it's already something common, but yet, some days, you will totally be stranded if you don't have cash to pay.
This is because the network problem is still very much with us: errors during transfers and errors of different colors, and it's frustrating. I remember buying dresses for my kids, and after making the transfer, the vendor said she had yet to receive an alert and seized my cloth. I showed the transfer receipt that went successfully, but she didn't care. I stayed for an hour waiting for her to receive the alert so I could go, all to no avail.
I had to go home, leaving the clothes I already purchased; meanwhile, the money had already left my account. It was after many hours that the vendor called and said that I should now come back and pick up the cloth. This experience caused me an extra transport fee and wasted my time.
I also remember transferring #200,000 to my customer for materials for my business, and for days and weeks, this man didn't receive the alert. I visited the bank, and they kept speaking grammar.
It was frustrating, and indeed, it affected my business then because the man refused to release other materials for me until he saw his money.
There are many bad experiences. I have had issues with digital payment, so many of them that I can't pen down here, and it's the same for many Nigerians as well because we hear most of these stories on social media every now and then. All these conveniences demand that we have cash in our bags at least to solve urgent needs whenever the network is not our friend for the day.
We still have a long way to go when it comes to development in my country, and telecommunication is part of it. We need to reach a point where we wouldn't have 1% of network failures before thinking of making physical cash obsolete.
Another concern is power supply. It is frustrating here, and making transfers requires a charged phone; otherwise, you will be stranded to pay for your purchase. I can't imagine if cash no longer exists for now; we can't cope. All the shopping I did yesterday, it was cash that saved me. No single network at CMS, imagine, and then at a point, my phone died too—double trouble... lol
Having said all that, completely going digital in our payment would be great because it will reduce the risk of theft, you can trace some transfers when the need arises, and it makes recording much easier, especially for business owners. Again, these evil kidnappers are always requesting millions in cash; they will be choked, and if they try using transfers, they will be traced. No doubt, there are still many other benefits of digital payments, but then...
The best option for me is to improve the hiccups we are experiencing with digital payment and still allow cash to exist, maybe not with the bulk of it spreading around. For now, cash has an important role to play for us, but maybe digital payment will be the future.
