Introduction
Digital finance is booming in the eight countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA): Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. In this context, we have as a basic subject and mature economic reflection on the contribution of financial globalization to the economic situation in Niger (ECOWAS sanctions), observing the center of positive and negative speculations. While this growth brings much hope, digital finance, seen as a means to promote financial inclusion, faces significant obstacles to its implementation in Niger. What solutions, then, can be implemented to avoid stagflation? What are the challenges? Can Niger establish itself as a leader in this regard for a phase of financial restoration and a comprehensive overhaul of the fight against extreme poverty?
Can alternative distribution channels increase financial inclusion in Niger? This seems to be the conviction of the Central Bank of UEMOA, which, as early as 2006, issued instructions regarding the issuance of electronic currency, allowing non-banking institutions to become issuers. Since then, the ecosystem has developed rapidly. Today, there are 25 electronic currency services, and the BCEAO is considering around thirty requests for new electronic money issuers or partnerships for the use of electronic currency solutions.
The new monetary and banking law gives considerable importance to electronic payments with the creation of an intersectoral payments council aimed at finding pragmatic, innovative, and effective solutions to reduce the use of cash in the national economy, which poses a dangerous situation for Niger and the UEMOA region as a whole. Is this a reality or a mirage towards an economic transition (I), or is it a significant consideration to address challenges? The situation poses an emotional-economic balance for experts in digital organizational turbulence.
- A reality or a mirage towards a true transition?
With the strong consent of the World Bank to support Niger towards a digital economy transition, a project worth one hundred million (100) dollars, through the Smart Village Project (PVI), which, however, faces obstacles due to the ongoing sanctions on Niger’s economy, how can we envision this state project that already lacks depth in terms of short-term impact analysis, considering the perpetual routine of diversion in which Niger is fully involved, a country with a clear corruption problem?
Those who think like me know that payments are merely a step, specifically the final step of monetary compensation in a whole circuit of real operations, including commercial, accounting, fiscal, legal, financial, social, and even confessional and cultural aspects. They also know that it is up to the technical solutions to adapt, innovate, and find solutions to the issues arising from all these aspects in order to improve and align the dividends and objectives sought by the parties involved (State, Enterprises, Customers, Banks, Tax Authorities), rather than imposing outdated technological solutions and payment tools that do not correspond to an intersection point of these parties.
2. Deception by ECOWAS? Is Niger ready for this ambitious project?
Finally, acquiring new technology, equipment, and materials, deploying them throughout the national territory near users, offering them free of charge to the public, conducting massive communication and advertising campaigns—could all of this effectively replace a sincere and thorough brainstorming effort that delves deep into the problem and brings about real solutions, including technological ones? It is worth noting that out of the four telecommunication companies, only one is an electronic money issuer.
Conclusion
A distorted and partial understanding of a problem can only lead to a distorted and partial solution. However, one must start somewhere and deploy minimum measures that pave the way for feedback collection, analysis of figures and results obtained, and gradually introduce innovations, modifications, and significant adaptations.
