Recently, a collaborative effort between the CashToken Rewards Africa and the Nigerian Lottery Regulatory Commission led to the proposal of a national patronage reward programme that seeks to reward all consumers who patronize businesses operating within the country.
The CEO of Financing with Muktar, Muktar Muhammed, spoke with ARISE NEWS on Thursday regarding the benefits of this reward programme, commending it as a great initiative.
“This is the real PPP, Public Partnership whereby you see where consumers are rewarded for buying something. Consumers are rewarded for patronizing a business. That’s the first of a kind in Nigeria, where I’m going to consume a consumable and I’m also looking forward to having a reward, especially in times like this.”
Muhammed added that this initiative will have a positive impact on the economy and will lead to the growth of businesses.
“Nigeria is a consumer driven economy. What ticks our economy is the number of our people and what we consume. That’s why the Chinese will always want to come to Nigeria, that’s why the Europeans will always want to come to Nigeria, because they know any product that they bring into this country is going to do well. Businesses will grow, especially Nigerian businesses, and not just growing, the consumers also, are able to gain something from the business.
“You buy something, you have a reward system, so the next time you’re coming in, you’re buying less. Also, it is impacting businesses, especially small businesses, the informal sector, because this is not a business that is just meant for the bigger corporation but also trickles down to the smaller businesses. Also, in the area of creating employment, you see that template there. It’s just like a national lottery, but this time you can say a business lottery that whenever you patronize, you enjoy something from it.”
Speaking on how the initiative will contribute to the government’s efforts at reducing excessive inflation, he said, “Both the businesses, the consumer and also the government are benefiting from it. When you look at smaller businesses, what they tend to gain in terms of reward system and customer loyalty.
“Especially when you look at the informal sector, it’s one sector in the Nigerian economy where we’ve not been able to capture or give them some little benefit to be able to come into the tax net. By doing this, you’re bringing more Nigerians into the tax net because Nigerians will always want to see what is there for us. So when you know there is a reward system to whatever you consume, then you want to be part of it.”
Concerning the sustainability of the programme, he said, “It’s very sustainable because it’s a private sector. A private sector driven economy than what we normally see, whereby it’s just government and just government. This time, we are seeing both government coming in, private sector coming in, then for the first time we are seeing consumers coming in. It’s a different ball game. It’s something that is going to outlive the government because of the way this thing is planned. It’s not planned just for the now. It has been existing for the past five years but they are planning to expand it more.”
He further said that this initiative makes provision for tax rebates that businesses will be able to claim, highlighting that this is something that has never been done before.
“We rarely see Nigerian businesses saying that we have tax rebates. For the first time, you can claim your tax rebate from the government because the data will be there, driven by technology. That, for me, is one area that government has not done very well and that’s why you don’t catch a lot of Nigerians in those tax brackets. But now, with that reward system, you get a lot of them coming in there. You’re able to expand your business and create other businesses and by doing that you’re creating employment.”
Melissa Enoch
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