Abia, FCT, Others Go Cashless Today

Abia, Anambra, Kano, Ogun and Rivers, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will begin the implementation of the cashless policy charges from today (October 1) as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launch the second phase of the initiative to redirect transactions from the predominant cash to electronic means across the country.

Due to the public holiday to commemorate Nigeria’s independence celebration, it will effectively begin tomorrow, October 2,

The policy started in the five states and Abuja on July 1, with the CBN placing daily limits on amounts that can be withdrawn and deposited by customers over the counter. Upon exceeding such limits, customers are required to pay certain charges for cash handling on the excess amounts.

For instance, individuals have a daily withdrawal and deposit limit of N500,000 while corporate bodies have N3 million.

When these limits are exceeded, individuals will be charged 2 per cent of the excess amount withdrawn and 3 per cent of excess deposit, while corporate bodies will be charged 3 per cent of excess deposit and 5 per cent of excess withdrawal. All cheques in excess of N150,000 cannot be encashed across the counter.

Also cash-in-transit lodgment and cash evacuation services will no longer be available to customers or merchants.

According to Tunde Lemo, Deputy Governor Operations of CBN, banks would commence the charges by Wednesday, when the moratorium given is deemed to have expired.

Lemo said the main issue around Point of Sale (POS) is connectivity, just as the CBN has been able to deal with that in concert with Telcos and other providers to provide a roaming facility.

“We will see a better connectivity in the next couple of weeks. The infrastructure is there and we have increased POS availability five fold within the last few months. We have improved on connectivity and will have a roaming facility to ensure the roaming is better.

“Statistics show before we tarted cashless only two per cent of payment activities was done electronically, we have been able to increase that about 20 per cent, you cannot find that in any other clime. Someone tellers would not want it to work due to the financial inducement available when you use cash. We have told the merchants to sensitise them and build tips into the arrangement so that their officers are adequately compensated.  A little bit of sabotage, but we are dealing with them”.