The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMAN) has reacted to the new policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) limiting the amount of money citizens can collect across all channels saying it would send over 1.4 million PoS operators out of work.
Recall that the CBN had in a memo dated December 6 and entitled ‘Naira redesign policy-revised cash withdrawal limits’ limited withdrawal at POS terminals to N20, 000 per day.
“The maximum cash withdrawal over the counter (OTC) by individuals and corporate organisations per week shall henceforth be N100, 000 and N500, 000 respectively. “Withdrawals above these limits shall attract processing fees of 5 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.
“Third party cheques above 50,000 shall not be eligible for payment over the counter, while extant limits of N10, 000, 000 on clearing cheques still subsist.
“The maximum cash withdrawal per week via Automated Teller Machine (ATM) shall be N100, 000 subject to a maximum of N20, 000 cash withdrawal per day
“The maximum cash withdrawal via point of sale (POS) terminal shall be N20, 000 daily,” it stated.
Reacting to the new rule, the president of AMMAN, Mr. Victor Olojo, said although the policy is good the country is not ripe for its implementation due to certain factors.
“The true essence of the policy is very good, but the question is, is Nigeria as a country ready for this? What is the percentage of the population that has a bank verification number, national identity number, smartphones, or that have heard of mobile money and bank transfers?
“While it is a good policy, this time, it is practically difficult for a policy like that to be fully actualised in its real and main essence. Hence, if the agenda of the CBN is to ensure that we go digital, then the next question is, what is the digital infrastructure we have as a country to support the financial flow?
“We are still battling with issues of electronic banking; we have a high rate of failed transactions, a high rate of declined transactions; we have a high rate of fraud in the system, we have a high rate of missing money without resolution, and high rate of Nigerians who have lost trust in the system because they have been defrauded or their issues were not resolved. So, we need to get some factors right first before diverting everybody into the electronic system,” he said.
Over the years, he said mobile money bank agents across the country have put efforts to drive financial inclusion adding that more than 1.4 million mobile money and banking agents over the country make a living from the job.
“The efforts of many agents have yielded positive gains for the country. Right now, we have over 60 per cent of Nigerian adults who are already financially included, which was not the case a decade ago.
“In the long run, we feel really disturbed by this policy of the federal government because the policy would render over 1.4 million Nigerians jobless, inclusive of their dependants and employees.
“With the support we render to small businesses…if you do a little research by going to the marketplace, you would see the impact of money agents across the market. We are doing so well that we have made life very easy and meaningful for Nigerians,” he said
Olojo said AMMAN was not calling for a reversal of the policy but appealing for a review.
“When the stamp duty was introduced a few years ago, it had a blanket cover on all transactions, but when we appealed to the CBN, there was a review that led to an exemption from 0 – 10,000, there were no stamp duty charges, but for any transaction above 10,000, there were charges.
“So, our appeal to the CBN is that for mobile money agents in rural areas, particularly in locations where there are no banks, a limit of N20, 000 should be reviewed for agents.
“We are appealing that agents have access to more money; the limitation of N20, 000 via PoS, or N100, 000 over the counter won’t enable us to do anything,” he said.
