By Abdulmumin Murtala, Kano
FOLLOWING the recent declaration by the Federal Government that Nigeria would be operating a cashless economy, many business people across the country are now embracing the policy and exploring ways this can enhance their transactions.
Remarkably, a street hawker in Kano, Muttaka Dauda, is one of those who have keyed into it already.
In his modified two-wheel barrow carrying packs of different brands of sweets, chocolates, chewing gums and biscuits, he has a POS (Point of Sale) machine by the side to make for easy transactions.
He uses his POS to not only serve as means of payment for purchases of items made from him, but also as a ‘mobile’ POS for those who withdraw from or deposit money to their bank accounts.
He told Arewa Voice that he drew his inspiration from the advent of the GSM phone when people’s presumptions were defeated by the revolution that made the GSM phone available to everyone, including roadside hawkers, food vendors and even beggars. Some of them even carry smartphones and perform a lot of transactions with them.
With the Nigerian economy going cashless, Muttaka feels he has to be in the fore and so, he has two POS machines he carries along in his wheelbarrow. “When the GSM phone was introduced during the Obasanjo era and he told Nigerians that even roadside hawkers will own it in the near future only a few people believed it. But today you can see that it is everywhere.
“I do POS and also sell my items and people pay me. I do not want a situation where I will lose my business because of some policy that is introduced that I refuse to embrace. My business is moving smoothly and more people are encouraged to buy from me; as you can see, I operate here in Tarauni and Farm Centre area which is a GRA.
“There are cases where I have to give a chance to people; so, when they buy anything and give me their card, they ask me to remove more so that I can give them the remaining change in cash. Concerning the issue of people accepting or rejecting the new currency, it is a government policy and you can’t oppose it.”
A customer of Muttaka, who prefers anonymity, said: “Whenever I buy sweets or biscuits from Muttaka worth about N500 or less, I give him my ATM card and ask him to withdraw N1000 and give me the remaining change in cash. I am impressed with the way he is hawking and I feel he demonstrating what the near future will look like as regards transactions using phones and POS”.
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