THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has calmed the nerves of point-of-sale (PoS) machine operators with the assurance they will not be endangered by the new cash withdrawal policy it initiated.
The apex bank, saying it would be offering the operators, about 1.4 million of them, some measure of concession, reiterated that the overall aim of the policy was to ensure a strong legal tender, amid concerns of the dwindling value of the naira.
The CBN had, on December 6, issued a directive to commercial banks and financial institutions limiting daily automated teller machine (ATM) withdrawal to N20,000, while limiting over-the-counter withdrawals for individuals and corporate organisations to N100,000 and N500,000, respectively.
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The policy is expected to take off on January 9.
“I cannot say that we are going to be rigid; we want to ensure that we make life conducive for our people. It is not to say that we will reverse or change timing of the policy. Whether it is about tweeking the amount higher to accommodate key operators, we will do so because we are humans,” the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said in an interview with newsmen.
Explaining further measures to assist the PoS operators on the new policy, the director of Banking Supervision and Services at the CBN, Mustapha Haruna, explained that the apex bank had provided allowances for PoS agents for withdrawals above limits.
“PoS operators are not in any way endangered; that is why we made provisions for how much a typical agent needs in a day. People need to see this as a policy intended to contribute to growth and development. When Nigerians understand the benefits of this policy, it will definitely shift mindsets,” Haruna said.
Prior to the clarifications, the president, Association of Mobile Agents Association of Nigeria (AMAAN), Victor Ololo, had expressed worry about the policy’s negative effects on the businesses of AMAAN’s members.
Ololo was concerned that many AMAAN members could lose their jobs, and suffer from the consequent economic distress.
He said, “An average agent attends to a minimum of 20 customers a day, which is about N400,000 minimum in transactions. What we are appealing is that the CBN should give some recognition to agents through its principals, where we can have access cards, to serve Nigeria’s unbanked.”
Some lawmakers had also expressed their reservation that many of their constituents who run cash-driven businesses could be dislocated economically.
Some of them sought a readjustment of the policy, stressing that Nigeria is still a largely cash-driven informal economy.
“I have 100 labourers working daily on my large farm in Bauchi, and they have to be paid by 5pm daily with cash. This policy will cause problems for us,” Senator Adamu Bulkachiwa, representing Bauchi North, said.
Also, Abubakar Njida, a herdsman and village head of Wafa Bango community in Yola North where there is a limited number of PoS operators and ATMs, argued that the policy would disrupt his business.
“As a trader, I withdraw N500,000 to buy rams and cows. N20,000 withdrawal per day will disrupt my business. It won’t help my business at all,” Njida said.
The senator representing Abia North senatorial district, Orji Uzoh Kalu, said that many members of his constituency are business people and would be negatively affected by the policy.
Kalu said, “They should make maximum withdrawal limits for individuals to be N500,000 because Nigeria is still largely a cash-driven economy.”
The Federal House of Representatives minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu, lauding the policy, believed it would help curb banditry by checkmating kidnappers, especially, who often request huge sums of cash for ransom payments.
“If we want to stop banditry, then we must embrace this policy and make it impossible for them (bandits) to have cash,” Elumelu said.
An economic analyst, Muda Yusuf, did not consider the policy as sitting well with small-scale businesses.
“It will negatively impact on the informal sector of the economy. The informal sector is a significant part of the economy, accounting for over 80 per cent of trade and commerce in the Nigerian economy and substantial components of jobs in the economy,” Yusuf, chief executive officer of the Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprise and former Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, told The ICIR.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.