Nigerians’ Misgivings And Emefiele’s New Year Handshake on Withdrawal Limits IBRAHIM QUADRI Expectedly, the directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria to limit cash withdrawals from over-the-counter, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to N100, 000 and N500, 000 per week for individuals and corporate organizations respectively has generated controversies. It is a policy scheduled to usher in the new year of 2023. It therefore sends a signal of impactful influence on daily transactions in the polity. The apex bank disclosed this in a circular to all deposit money banks (DMBs) and other financial institutions (OFIs), signed by the Director, Banking Supervision Department of CBN, Mr. Haruna Mustafa, adding that daily withdrawal from ATMs will now be N20,000 subject to N100,000 per week. In addition, the CBN also directed DMBs and OFIs to load only N200 and lower denominations into their ATMs. In his argument, the apex bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele noted that the policy was not new but now to be implemented to curtail ransom payments through kidnappings. He said that the decision to introduce the policy was not meant to hurt anybody but to strengthen the nation’s economy. The CBN governor, who stated this while speaking with State House correspondents after meeting behind closed-doors with President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina State, assured that the apex bank will not be rigid on the policy following criticism from the Senate, business experts and some stakeholders. Worried by this development, the House of Representatives has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to halt the implementation of the new cash withdrawal policy slated for January 9, 2023 pending compliance with the provisions of the Act establishing the bank. The House also summoned CBN Governor, Godwin Emiefele in accordance with the provisions of the Central Bank Act to brief the Chamber on several policies of the bank in recent times. Lending his position on the development, a financial expert, Dr O E. Bassey argued, “The misconception of the policy being held by many is that they are limited to only spending N20,000 per day. No! That’s not true. Your cash transfers, your cheques, your PoS, you could still use all these to make your normal transactions, but when it comes to cash withdrawals of more than N20,000 per day, that won’t be permitted any longer if the new policy gets implemented. “Imagine what this policy will do to the kidnapping business where these captors rather prefer cash payment to protect themselves from being tracked. This denotes that for a ransom of say, N5m; they would have to wait for 15 years to have you withdraw 20k per day, while they, in return, will use 5 years to deposit the cash in their bank. What this does to such crime is that it makes it less lucrative, thereby erasing it from the land to a large extent. “The circulation of money will also be controlled such that we have more in our bank vaults unlike the present situation where a sizeable amount of money is outside the bank vaults which is always an economic faux pas for any country intending to attain economic prosperity. “There is also the issue of tracing the source of a person’s money to ensure that we don’t have amid us unbeknownst a criminal or a harmful person such that they don’t go unreported. With this, outrageous and suspicious cash payment which has always been known for the wrong reasons, will get reduced, and that to an extent, reduces illegalities and make the country safer for us all. “Need I also mention about the complaints from people of always having to spend needlessly because they have cash with them. That narrative is seemingly bound to change with the new policy of N100k per week to individuals, and N20k per day. What this does is that it indirectly gives you a budget to work with such that unnecessary expenses get little or no attention cum leeway on your everyday financial activities. “The policy also solves the issues of parties and the embarrassing disrespect being paid to our naira notes therein. Countless times, the CBN, in conjunction with the police, have tried to regulate the indiscriminate spray of notes at parties, but with the new policy, the chances of having huge wads of notes at parties are reduced, plus it also helps people control the most times ‘irrational’ urge to spend ‘big’ at parties. “However, I understand that the policy has its shortcomings, with one being that it does not factor in the rural communities that are yet to be fully digitalized such that their dwellers rely heavily on cash for everyday financial transactions. To this end, my charge will be to CBN, to look into these communities and see how they must not be left out of a functioning financial digital climate that helps them and helps everyone. “By and large, there are more positives to take from the policy than negatives. And as seen in the past week, the resistance is normal considering it is a change and humans are always indispose to such. But time always has a way of making us adapt and appreciate changes,”Bassey submitted. On the contrary, Innos Freedom stated, “It would have been a good policy, but it is going to negatively affect millions of people. They should look at the advantages as well as the disadvantages. The online banking system is going to be difficult for many businesses across the country. This is because many Nigerians are illiterates or semi-literates; and the literate ones are not well equipped for successful online transactions. “In addition, the banking network system is too poor to solely depend on when transferring huge funds. Sometimes, you transfer money to another person and it would take hours before it would be received; sometimes, it bounces back to the sender. This would create headache on a long run. *Also, it would render millions of people − who are self-employed through the POS business − unemployed. The CBN placed withdrawal limit for individuals to N20,000 per day. How would POS operators source for cash to run their business? If these people close down their businesses, which job do they tend to provide for them? Speaking in the same vein as Freedom, Dauda Kungu said, “The government needs to put some things in place and make some adjustments before embarking on the policy. The government should ensure there is adequate awareness and enlightenment at the grassroots. People should know the importance of cashless economy and what is expected of them. They should also make sure that the process money transfer by commercial banks, is comprehensive, effective and efficient. “The network service providers and the commercial banks should also improve on their services so that transaction failure would be drastically reduced,” Kungu said. In conclusion, despite the argument of Emefiele to extend a handshake of love in the new year, the perceptions of many Nigerians contradict CBN’s stand. Laudable as the withdrawal policy sounds, Nigerians’ misgivings over it need to be addressed to stimulate acceptance.

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