What an eventful and exciting week. Last week, US President Barack Obama came to Africa, the Bolivian President was ‘kidnapped’ and the most damaging revelations about the American state spying on some of her own most trusted allies was brought to the public realm. I will touch on all three of these events in this contribution.

CERTAINLY, when an American philosopher, George Santayana, noted that ‘’those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it,” the ancient and modern Egyptian leaders were not his reference point. But with a recurring history of a presidency that had always ended ignominiously, the country could easily pass for the focal point of that historical quote.

One year after the Central Bank of Nigeria introduced the cashless policy in Lagos, it has decided to extend the policy to other states, including Abuja, Abia, Anambra, Ogun, Kano and Rivers. It is against this background that Saturday Vanguard sampled the opinions of some Lagosians and these are their reactions.

Apparently following a request by the Anambra State government, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has agreed to organise a sensitisation programme for the Anambra business community and other stakeholders in Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi to acquaint them with the apex bank’s cashless policy.

In what can best be described as an attempt to broaden the scope of electronic payments for goods and services, five states and the FCT are set to join Lagos which adopted the cashless initiative last year, owing to the high level of commercial activities and cash deposits they record.