I learn an article on a nationwide reward programme written by Jones Udemba and revealed in Thisday Newspaper, a programme that’s anticipated to reward customers of products and providers with instantaneous money rewards for each buy they make throughout all companies in Nigeria.
The programme additionally guarantees an opportunity to win something from N5,000 to N100 million in a Nationwide Weekly Shopper Draw.
Based on Udemba, the reward programme is a collaborative effort between CashToken Rewards Africa and the Nigerian Lottery Regulatory Fee, geared toward reaching the three-pronged goal of rewarding customers for each buy they make, boosting companies via a rise in patronage of their items and providers and widening the tax web to provide more cash to the federal authorities.
I discovered the article attention-grabbing as a result of only recently, I watched Chief Lai Labode, Chief Government Officer of CashToken Rewards Africa, on Come up Tv the place he talked in regards to the programme, enumerating the identical advantages Udemba talked about in his article.
Within the interview, Labode identified that the Nationwide Reward Programme is neither a charity nor playing, insisting that it merely rewards customers for making routine purchases.
In different phrases, the extra purchases a shopper makes, the more cash he will get again into his pocket. It’s simply good, as effectively, that the programme represents a win-win state of affairs for everyone – customers, companies and the federal government.
It’s an undebatable incontrovertible fact that Nigeria is challenged economically and socially talking. Right now, any programme or association that would supply hope of survival to a beleaguered inhabitants needs to be welcome.
On paper, the Nationwide Reward Programme seems interesting, if not engaging. It’s, nonetheless, necessary that in embracing this specific shopper reward programme, some pertinent questions have to be requested, even when for functions of readability, for the advantage of the Nigerian folks.
We’re used to the common gross sales promotions that organisations perform which come within the guise of rewarding loyal clients for patronage over a sure interval, however which are supposed to earn extra income for the organizations.
We see customers spend scarce assets on the acquisition of products and providers throughout gross sales promotions within the hope of successful the prizes which might be connected to these promotions, probably not as a result of they want these items or providers.
A youth spends his little pocket cash to gulp down bottles of a gentle drink as a result of he hopes to win the prizes connected to the train.
Adults spend cash investing within the buy of products or patronage of providers within the hope of successful automobiles, homes, international journeys or massive sums of cash.
The reality is that it’s the billions of naira which thousands and thousands of customers spend on the acquisition of these items and providers which might be used to supply rewards for the few that win, with a big chunk left as revenue for the organizers of the promotions.
In what method is the Nationwide Reward Programme going to be totally different from the common gross sales promotions that we’re used to?
What are the thresholds a shopper should attain to be rewarded for any buy he makes? Will these thresholds be made identified to the buyer on the time of buy of products or providers, to ensure the programme’s transparency?
There isn’t a doubt that the programme goes to be helpful to companies. However let it not be seen to be to the detriment of customers who need to make massive purchases for companies to learn, by the use of elevated patronage.
It’s typically agreed that the federal government must open the tax web wider to accommodate the phase of the inhabitants that doesn’t pay any type of tax, and in addition make a correct evaluation of the tax which some companies and people are at the moment paying, to have more cash for developmental functions.
In what method is the Nationwide Reward Programme going to convey more cash to the federal government within the type of tax, with out translating to an additional burden on the Nigerian individuals who need to make purchases for companies to have the ability to pay extra taxes?
Are there plans to copy the programme on the state and native authorities ranges, so each a part of the nation can be a part of it?
The query should even be requested in regards to the sustainability of this programme, laudable as it could appear. Is it simply an emergency programme that could be a youngster of necessity, which can disappear with time?
Written by
Femi Lawal, Abuja