International Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences Vol. 3, No.5; May 2013 1 Integrating Cashless Economic Policy in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects Olanipekun 1 , W. D., *Brimah, A. N. 2 , & Akanni, L. F. 3 ¹Department of Management and Accounting, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. ²Department of Business Administration, Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Nigeria. ³Department of Business Administration, Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Nigeria. *talktobrimah@yahoo.com Abstract This study examines the challenges and prospects cashless economic policy in Nigerian which was introduced in 2011 but commenced operation on April 1, 2012 in Lagos as a pilot project. The mandate of the policy was to drive development and modernization of our payment system in line with the vision of being amongst the top 20 economies by year 2020 (Nigeria Vision 20:2020 goal) by providing mobile payment services, breaking down the traditional barriers hindering financial inclusion of millions of Nigerians and bringing a low cost, secure and convenient financial service to urban, semi-urban and rural areas across the country. The study examines the benefit and advantages of the policy (increased convenience, reduce cash handling cost, reduce risk of using cash), challenges hiŶdeƌiŶg the suĐĐessful aĐhieveŵeŶt of the poliĐy’s oďjeĐtives (iŶadeƋuate infrastructure, high rate of illiteracy, lack of unique national identity) and recommendations that will make the policy succeed were suggested. Keywords: Cashless policy, Electronic banking, Vision 2020, Central bank of Nigeria 1. Introduction The apex financial institution in any economy is the Central Bank of that country and it plays a major ƌole iŶ the eĐoŶoŵiĐ deǀelopŵeŶt pƌoĐess of that ŶatioŶ. DekoĐk ;ϭϵϵϴͿ defiŶes a ĐeŶtƌal bank as a bank which constitutes the apex of the of the monetary and banking structure of a country and which performs as best as it can be in the national economic interest the following functions of regulations of currency in accordance with the requirements of business and the general public, custodian of cash reserves of commercial banks, custodian and management of foreign exchange observes, lender of last resort, controller of credit clearing house for transfer and settlement and also acts as the banker, fiscal agent and adviser to the government. In Nigeria, the mission statement of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is to be proactive in providing a stable framework for economic development through the effective, efficient and transparent implementation of monetary and exchange rate policy and management of the financial system (CBN,2011). It is in line with this mandate that it has introduced various monetary policies that would strengthen the financial system and cashless policy which ensures efficient and modern payment system is one of such which is geared to achieve the goal of being amongst the top 20 economies by year 2020 (Vision 20:2020). This is in fact one of the cardinal objective of cashless policy. The vision 20:2020 statement reads that By ϮϬϮϬ, Nigeƌia ǁill haǀe a stƌoŶg diǀeƌsified, sustaiŶaďle and competitive economy that effectively harnesses the talents and energies of its people and responsible exploits its natural endowments to guarantee a high standard of living and quality of life to its ĐitizeŶs. It is ƋuiĐk to Ŷote that ǀisioŶ ϮϬϮϬ is aŶ eĐoŶoŵiĐ tƌaŶsfoƌŵatioŶ ďluepƌiŶt ǁhiĐh seeks to articulate the long term intent to lauch Nigeria onto a path of sustained social and economic progress and accelerate the emergence of a prosperous Nigeria. It seeks to optimally maximize enormous human and material resources in Nigeria and drive the economy to be among