Nigeria, the most populous Black country in the world with an estimated population of over 200 million people, is reputed for having the highest GDP in Africa, maybe that is why the country alludes with the “giant of Africa” status. Meanwhile, appraisal as being the cynosure of African business, about 40% of Nigeria’s population lives in poverty, which is measured with a benchmark value of $1 per day.
As the country’s main source of revenue comes from crude oil export, the economy, and in implication, the standard of living of people continue to dwindle with the rising cost of living. Many experts have taunted the plunging economic landscape of the country with its inability to diversify the economy instead of depending solely on the income coming from crude oil, which is consequently impoverishing the preponderance of the Nigerian population.
On a lighter note, the cryptocurrency appears to bring a fresh sigh of relief to the country as it is considered one of the viable ways of lifting Nigerians out of poverty.
1. Enhances The Nation’s Stream Of Revenue
Many developing countries have been grappling to recover from the inadvertent hiatus the pandemic brought, with Nigeria not an exception. Nigeria reported a 27.1% increase in the unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2020, amid the pandemic. This report is a culmination of many individuals who lost their jobs, businesses shut down, and the government was unable to adequately implement crucial projects, an outlook into cryptocurrency is one of the best ways to shift gear from the economic downturn.
It could be recalled that the 2016 recession had a big blow on Nigeria’s economy and the impact is still felt to date with a six-year-long declining average income. Just as the cliche, “necessity is the mother of invention,” many Nigerians are resorting to cryptocurrency to walk their way out of poverty and enhance their stream of income and live a good life.
It is no doubt that cryptocurrency has positively impacted the lives of Nigerians. According to a 2020 survey, 32% of Nigerians engaged in buying and trading cryptocurrency, with Nigeria accounting for $400 million worth of crypto transactions. This ranked Nigeria third in global trade volume.
2. Provision Of Educational Opportunities
As some developed nations of the world are already including cryptocurrency education in their school curricula, Nigeria is also not lacking in benefitting from the goodness cryptocurrency can offer in the country’s educational system. One major crypto trading platform taking the development of Nigeria at heart is Paxful.
Paxful is a cryptocurrency exchange platform that operates on a peer-to-peer basis.
Nigerians are known to use the platform to make about $1.1 million monthly blockchain transactions. In its bid to remit the investment of Nigeria on its trading platform, Paxful in 2020 led the #builtwithbitcoin campaign to start the construction of a new school in Ankara Nandu community of Sanga Local in Nigeria.
Today, Paxful is building the fourth school of its 100 school initiative support. The school will serve an estimated 100-120 children between the ages of three to six years old and will double as an adult learning space in the evenings assisting in providing hundreds of people with a supplemental education.
In the sequel, the geometric increase in cryptocurrency transactions in Nigeria has had a great effect on many Nigerians as some of these crypto trading platforms are impressed with the rate Nigerians are investing and trading with them, in return, they are ready to give largesse back.
3. Easy Way Of Banking
Banking is a lifestyle on its own with a paradigm shift from the traditional way of keeping money. It will interest you that at this time when the world is operating on digital an approximate 60 million Nigerians do not have a bank account. As astonishing as this might be, bank account owners can only withdraw less than the equivalence of $100 due to local restrictions.
However, crossing this hurdle has put mobile banking and investment in cryptocurrency in the spotlight. With a 2017 report showing 71% of Nigerians use mobile phones for internet access and communication, Nigerians use mobile platforms, like Prestmit, to convert their funds into cryptocurrencies. Therefore, this can help to increase financial inclusion in Nigeria by having a quasi-bank account, since everybody with internet access can own a crypto wallet
Conclusion
Cryptocurrency is capable of providing significant benefits as it should be considered as a medium to support the growth process in Nigeria by increasing financial inclusion and helping Nigerians escape poverty.
