Why Have The Clouds Not Rolled Away Yet?

Rarzack Olaegbe

If you need to pay for anything, having cash is a comfort. Expenses occur. When your children’s shoes, car parts, and groceries need replacement, it is a comfort to know you can pay third-party cash to replace them. Without cash, some exchanges cannot happen in Lagos.

This is the weather forecast. It is gloomy. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, has predicted three days of sunshine and cloudiness this week. It predicted sunny skies on Monday. There will be patches of clouds over the Northern region throughout the day.

The agency forecast thundery activities over southern parts of Borno State during the afternoon to evening hours. The cloudy skies would prevail over the North Central states. There are slim chances of isolated thunderstorms over Kwara State during the morning hours.

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There will be cloudy skies over the inland and the coastal cities of the South in the morning hours. There are chances of rain over Imo, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, and Rivers.

On The One Hand

It is still cloudy. The weather is not in favour of anyone. You cannot predict when the rain will come. But it is still cloudy. That is why the rain is here. The bank customers are still languishing under the sun. They are still expecting King Cash.

Although the CBN may have given the green light to allow the mint and the old notes to walk in the park until December. The pronouncement has not taken the heat off banks’ infrastructure deficiency.

Is it still a good idea to hold cash? Cash calms your nerves. It preserves your net worth. It is a good idea to hold some cash now. Cash gives you options. The psychological medicine of holding cash cannot be underestimated. Imagine not having money in your investment portfolio for a long time.

If you need to pay for anything, having cash is a comfort. Expenses occur. When your children’s shoes, car parts, and groceries need replacement, it is a comfort to know you can pay third-party cash to replace them. Without cash, some exchanges cannot happen in Lagos.

On The Other Hand

Why do you need cash? It is for transaction motives. For use as a means of exchange. For goods and services. For a meal or transportation. Especially where other forms of payment such as PoS and bank transfers are unavailable or unreliable.

The CBN naira redesign birthed such an ugly situation recently. The experience is not worth repeating. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Naira redesign policy led to the mop-up of over N982. 09 billion from circulation.

The policy reduced the currency in circulation and compelled bank customers to rely less on cash for trading or transactions. Nigerians turned to debit cards, mobile transfers, and USSD codes for payments. But the experience was not palatable.

That is why cold cash can be a real comfort. Recently, I have noticed some bank customers languishing in the banking hall. Some cannot keep quiet about it. Why do you pay a customer N20,000 when he needed N200,000 to settle artisans?

In The Short Term

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A bean cake merchant used to make N12,000 every night as of early January. Last night she sold N4,000. Her bean cake has gone cold because of the low sales. She has no PoS terminal. Cash has gone on AWOL.

Another pop and mom shop owner complained about low sales even though he has PoS.

I visited seven PoS terminals in my neighbourhood. Cash was unavailable. The five ATMs located on Adeniran Ogunsanya Street did not have cash either.

It is sunny. But why have the clouds not rolled away yet?