The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has said that the new redesigned N200, N500 and N1, 000 notes had already been deposited with the commercial banks for disbursement to the public as from December 15.
Emefiele disclosed this to journalists after his visit to President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina State.
He said the new cash withdrawal limits expected to be implemented from January 9, 2023 was not politically motivated but for the benefit of the economy.
Recall that the CBN had on Tuesday introduced new cash withdrawal limits for banks and other financial institutions.
Under the new rule, the apex bank restricted the maximum cash withdrawal over the counter (OTC) by individuals and corporate organisations per week to N100, 000 and N500, 000 respectively.
It also pegged daily withdrawal limit via automated teller machine at N20, 000 and N100, 000 per week.
Angered by the CBN’s new cash withdrawal regime, the House of Representatives summoned Emefiele to appear before it next Thursday.
However, the CBN governor said after his meeting with Buhari that the cash withdrawal limit is not cast in stone and appealed to Nigerians to embrace the new policy.
He said the president had expressed satisfaction over the steps being taken to put Nigeria at the forefront of digital payment innovations in Africa and the world at large.
“The president says he is happy and that we do not need to fear about anybody and that we should carry on,” he said.
Reacting to the objections raised by the national assembly and the public over the cash withdrawal policy, Emefiele said: “And we think Nigeria, as the biggest economy in Africa, needs to leapfrog into the cashless economy.
“We cannot continue to allow a situation where over 85 per cent of the cash that is in circulation is outside the bank. More and more countries that are embracing digitisation have gone cashless.”
He insisted that contrary to speculations, the cashless policy was not targeted at anybody, adding that there was no going back on it.
The CBN governor also said the central bank would soon honour the invitation by the senate to brief the lawmakers on its recent policy direction.
“We can only just continue to appeal to Nigerians to please see this policy the way we have presented it. We will be reviewing from time to time how this is working; because we are not going to be rigid but it is not to say that we will reverse, or change the timing but whether it is about tweaking some amount to be a little bit higher or lower, we will do so because we are human and we want to make life good for our people,” he said.
The CBN governor added the cashless policy was suspended several times in the past so as to make adequate preparations for its eventual takeoff.
He said over 85 per cent of the cash that is in circulation is outside the banks, stressing that such practice should not be allowed to continue.
“It is important for me to say that the cashless policy started in 2012 but on almost three to four occasions we have had to step down the policy because we felt that there is a need for us to prepare ourselves and deepen our payment system infrastructure in Nigeria.
“Between 2012 and now which is about 10 years, we believe that a lot of electronic channels have been put in place that would aid people in conducting banking and financial transactions in Nigeria.
“We have heard people talk about the people in the rural areas, the truth is that even online banking is working even in Daura, I saw a kiosk that has super agents today because of the way we felt that there is a need to deepen payment system infrastructure.
“We have 1.4 million super agents that are all over the country, in all local governments and all villages and I have told my colleagues, we are going to publish all the names of all the super agents.”
“Having super agents which are different from the banks and different from MFBs other financial institutions, having 1.4 million of them is as good as saying we are having 1.4 million banking points where people can conduct banking services and we think that Nigeria as a big country and the biggest economy in Africa, that we need to leapfrog into the cashless economy.
“We cannot continue to allow a situation where over 85 per cent of the cash that is in circulation outside the banks. More and more countries that are embracing digitalisation have gone cashless and I have said it at different fora that this is not targeted at anybody.”
He said the CBN would remain alive to its responsibilities as well as do the right things for the country and its citizens.
Commenting on the new bank notes, the CBN governor said: “I can assure everyone that it will go round, but let us be calm and be patient. Luckily the old currency continues to be legal tender until January 31, 2023. Both the painted and unpainted ones will be legal tender and by January 31 unpainted ones will not be useful to you.
“At the CBN we have taken more than half a trillion and the banks will also have around half a trillion; what we have done is to move more people into currency processing so that we can process as quickly as possible and from there, banks can move.
“The president says he is happy and we do not need to fear anybody and we should carry on.”
