The directive on compulsory CAC’S registration mandated POS operators across the federations by the Central Bank of Nigeria on or before 7 July, defined an uncensored act of exploiting the poor Nigerians who are trying to eke living through legitimate means.
Considering current economic insecurity confronting the country causing increasing criminality on a large scale, basically indicated resultant consequences of hardships. Implementations of such CBN’S act, will further exacerbate economic crisis. At present some Nigerians who have lost hope and faith in the system to make their living conditions better, are suffering depressions instigating undertaking banditry, kidnapping, robbery, stealing and other forms of corrupt and criminal activities in order to enhance survival.
Before CBN decided imposing exploitative decision on POS operators, its should have evaluated degrees of adversity costs liable on final consumers, and also, prescient inquisitively aftermaths injurious effects on goodwill of the POS services providers.
By all considerations considered, the regulation is nothing but extending phases to rake-off widow’s mites’ treasures of the poor’s. Ergo, the mechanism is not indifferent to exploitations. For what kind of strategic management will make registrations of POS retail services providers with CAC compulsory ere granted approval to function? After all the various financial institutions producing and marketing POS terminals on a large scale, have legal back up from relevant bodies: CBN, CAC, Insurance etc. And the legal coverage’s should directly covered their consumers whom, bears the liabilities of payments for legal services, taxation and other CBN levies .
Frankly speaking, federal government has obligatory functions representing responsible governments to the citizens not exploitative. And so, every policy, directive, act, regulation or law leading to exploitations of the downtrodden needed been repealed enabling the masses to breath.
What the CBN is calling for will discourage patronising strength of the POS business due to two reasons. Firstly, the rates of charges will reactively increased thereby possessing tendency to reducing patronising strength. Secondly, the individual customers will be constraints to pay CAC registrations and possibly taxes. Though CAC had issued a statement that the POS services providers will register under business name category requiring no payment of taxes. But what values will CBN add to the registered POS services providers in terms of direct loans provisions? Of course, the apex financial institutions do not addressed the puzzle in its directive meaning speculation that the credo is devised to cutting the necks of the business owners under disguised of revenue generation.
Ergo of what purposes does the CBN wanted the business owners to pay double taxes and undertook CAC registrations? This situation is peculiar to ordering Tomatoes, Groundnut, Kulikuli etc sellers to register individually with the CAC before they could trade.
Thus as a matter of facts the local Economists needed to educate the federal government about implications involved implementing outrageous laws that, will further threatening economic balancing and produced infliction of affliction on the poor Nigerians.
Factually for every country to survive, citizens have responsibilities to pay taxes and observes total compliances with necessitated legalities. But what can one calls condition when the poor’s are experimentally mandated to pay double charges on commodities or services consumed like experimental scapegoats? Citizens are complaining of hunger due to hiking in prices of commodities quotidian despite ineffective and inefficient values of minimum wages to equal economic upsurge. In Nigeria markets today, minimum wage cannot buy a bag of rice, beans, garri etc. What then will the poor Nigerians survive on? Without mincing words, many souls have committed suicides as news headlines are reporting instances of people killing theirselves due to depressions and hopelessness. Now, what shall be anticipated if this draconian laws capable of increasing charges on services rendered in an economically pauperized and depressed economy like Nigeria, are implemented? Realistically implementation of the law will strangle the small scale businesses while, the resultant effects will hype insecurity state, making the country, too, expensive to inhabit for its citizens.
Furthermore, one of the effect of implementation of the regulation implied, induction many courageously struggling Nigerian youths using the business to sustain giffen lives, tergiversate to imbibing degrees of fraudulent activities such as “gambling , drug trafficking, internet frauding etc,” to earn a living.
Another effects is that the policy due to high cost of living the policy will reproduces, it can encourage mass exodus of people into foreign lands. Thus it will be a massive disgrace for Nigeria if Nigerians are migrating to Ghana, Niger etc to undertaking cobbler services popularly called “shoe maker”. No matter how worse it is, an acclaimed giants of any continents must invested in its citizens. Likewise any country that wanted to survive economically ought not plied the routes described by the Writer as ‘Legal local extortion’. And of course since government have not invested enough in its citizens hence, corruptions begun thriving like virus infections in the country’s blood system.
Whereas the model of capitalism ideology operating in Nigeria, is lacking application of detailed principles apropos the economic systems. For instance, it is similar to an halve-cooked beans lacking salts, maggi, pepper and palm oil. Hence lacking tastes and unhealthy for consumption.
Moreover by appraising lack of proper investments in human resources, undiversified economy, lack of standard empowerment schemes, downsizing of the civil services, increase taxation, weak legislations made against corruptions tendencies and generally available unfriendly environments caused by insecurity menace. Thus attempting to implementing policy that aftermath is increase in cost of living under austere atmospheres, will undisputably accelerated any county’s journey’s to Venezuela’s.
Accepted that Nigeria needed to grow her economy to standardise perch, and capitalism system of economy represents good channel. Is it not then inevitable that capitalistic orientations be knowledgeably and clinically applied? But the poor Nigerians are subjected to shoulder the responsibilities of being used for experimentations. And going anticlockwise direction can either tarried timely arrival at destination or resulted to lost in the wilderness. This explains why things are not working as expected, supporting arguments of Carter G Woodson author of the book titled: “Miseducation of Africa” that Africa are miseducated by about capitalism and democracy.
However there are examples of poor countries that adoption of capitalism systems helped restructured, rejigged and revived there economies. A good example is Singapore with a working population of around three million producing GDP of about 300 billion US dollars annually. Its secured independent in 1965 and by 1972 resolved to accelerate economic development. Its invested handsomely in education not as it is done in Nigeria, by impacting right kind of standards knowledge and training schemes that will equipped the graduates to perform professionally on their studied disciplines. The country also reduced taxation rates to reducing skyrocketing prices of goods and services. And crowned its efforts by leaving no breeding place for corruption and insecurity. Thereby making it attractive to local and international developers to invest in the country.
Henceforth the National Assembly liked its rose to quench the fire on cyber security levy on bank transactions, has to question implementation of compulsory CAC’S registrations for POS services providers. Nigerians do not deserved discouragement from its government. Also the CBN should be stopped from implementing the parasitic policies that, will projects closure of small scale businesses and make things more difficult for the poor’s.
On this notes if this policy is implemented, POS charges will correspondingly increased, too. And the valueless value of Naira in Nigeria markets will further depreciated.
Deservingly if the regulation will not be cancelled then it needed reviewing and reforming centred around provisions of loans for the operators and creations of enabling environment.
Therefore if there is no economic values attached to the regulation, the CBN policy conditioning CAC’S registrations for the POS Services Providers is indisputably faulty and should be reviewed or repealed.
– Segun Babayomi Amupitan, ACIHRM, CPM, PgD-HRM, current National President North Central and Abuja Youth Development Association (NAYODA).
