This is one of the best policies this administration has ever uttered and is following through on. Of course, people will cry and scream, but the best thing for the nation is the following:

Already, one of the presidential candidates who allegedly used huge sums of money to buy votes and mobilize thugs to force people to go his way, is attacking President Buhari, the leader of his own party, because of this policy! Therefore, it could be summarized that the policy is clearly not selfish or in the interest of the party. It is altruistic!

Bandits, con artists (also known as 419ers), and terrorists trade large amounts of cash, which they collect as loot or ransom, buy weapons and property, and return to terrorize or oppress the population. Now, in Nigeria, excess cash in the system equals easy access to cash for terrorists and criminals, and unwavering access to it equals no peace.

The economy has faced serious challenges because many people have deliberately refused to be included in the conventional banking sector, even with the introduction of simple banking services, including account opening and withdrawals on the spot through the POS and other mobile channels. .

By fleeing from banking services, the country cannot adequately calculate its Gross National Product or Gross Domestic Product, nor its per capita growth.

It simply implies that what Nigeria has been doing is estimating its GDP, GNP and other growth rates. That is probably why our title as Africa’s largest economy has had little impact on the lives of the average citizen.

Have you ever tried, as a business owner, to get a bank loan? Well I have. And he is heartbreaking.

Traditionally, banks are supposed to trade on the confidence they have in the character of ordinary people, but in Nigeria they don’t! One reason is that they generally can’t properly track what borrowers do with their loans. Some people use the loans for other purposes than what they requested to use them for, and they circumvent the banking sector by continually trading cash. Loan recovery, in order to recirculate the money and empower others to start or grow their businesses, therefore becomes impossible.

Do you know that the disbursement of the NIRSAL loan from Covid19 was affected because the DMB escrow banks, which finance the loan with their profits, pulled out because they were not posting profits?

Do you know that many bright positive balances published by banks annually are rigged, because they do not earn profit from production activities; rather they make ‘dubious’ profits by moving money from one place to another and charging fees for it?

With more money in the banks, banks will be forced to lend more at friendly rates because they will be able to track how lenders use money to make informed recovery decisions.

Recently, a former Accountant General of the federation was charged with a total corruption figure of N109bn.

The late former Chief of the Air Staff was reported to be cutting N600 million every month from the monthly allowance to the Air Force. These senseless criminally charged acts could only be conceived because all transactions are not required to go through the banking system.

At one point, the money changers became the ones who determined and created new but poor values ​​for the Naira! That shouldn’t continue.

Counterfeiters will be forced to stop, even briefly, because Nigeria is moving towards semi-cashlessness. The lesser the importance of cash, the lesser the activity of these people. Imagine getting paid, as a farmer, for several bags of mint coin grains that are counterfeits! It has happened and it could happen again.

I could go on and on.

This policy is one of the best policies Nigeria has ever had.

If the government wants to make it work better, all it needs to do is withhold large supplies of the new currency from the banks and collect many more old coins from citizens to stop inflation and crime in its tracks.

If someone kidnaps another today and asks for a ransom of N3m, which will take forever to collect because withdrawal limits have been lowered and bill payments have been traced, he, the kidnapper, will gradually withdraw from that way! life!

And how does the terrorist get more money to buy weapons if the banks won’t allow excess cash in the hands of people they will kidnap for ransom?

Yes, we will suffer and complain. But like any giant step that must be taken, the initial discomfort will lead to a good ending.

In fact, the biggest saboteurs of the ongoing banking and financial reform are the legislators of the National Assembly who called for an upward revision of the withdrawal limit.

What’s wrong with doing bank transfers for all transactions?

A country like Nigeria, where almost everyone in public office steals, needs to leave all or part of the cash so that all transactions can be traced and penalties and taxes are applied and withdrawn correctly.

The villager and local merchant will now be duly included in the banking sector, with this new policy.

And soon, we will all realize that the small traders and farmers that we consider to be uneducated can transact without having cash.

Let us bear the inconveniences of this policy and currency exchange to live a better and safer life as Nigerians.

We need a better global reputation that attracts large foreign investment. This could be the magic wand!

Balogun is a media consultant and businessman. He can be reached via 08069727798