Central Bank of Nigeria Cash limits: PoS operators give CBN ultimatum

The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria is hopeful that before the new year, the Central Bank of Nigeria will change its policy regarding cash withdrawal limits.

The National Assembly has promised to convince CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele to change the policy, according to Victor Olojo, the national president of AMMBAN, who made the revelation on Sunday.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria new policy set weekly cash withdrawal limits for both individuals and corporations at N100,000 and N500,000, respectively.

The directive also stated that as of January 9, processing fees of 5% and 10% would apply to both individual and corporate withdrawals that exceeded the thresholds.

Additionally, third-party cheques worth more than N50,000 will not be accepted for over-the-counter payments as long as the current clearing cheque limits of N10 million are in effect.

In a petition dated December 16, 2022, the PoS operators urged the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to review its policy and prevent 1.4 million bank agents from losing their source of income.

Giving an update on the matter, Olojo explained that the group has soft-pedaled on its planned legal action due to the assurances given by the CBN and National assembly that POS operators would not be impacted by the policy.

He did, however, issue a warning that if the policy was not changed before the end of the year, its members would protest in the streets and sue the apex bank.

The president of the union representing PoS operators stated, “We have not yet filed a lawsuit because we have received assurances, and we are awaiting a formal response from the CBN. We have been to the National Assembly, and we have also looked into the other resources we have right now.

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“They have expressed assurance that POS operators and mobile money services will not be impacted. So, we are awaiting the CBN’s official statement. But if nothing changes by the end of the year, we will protest in the streets and take legal action.

We just want to take that as a guarantee while we wait for a formal report, but keep in mind that the Director of Banking Supervision, Mustafa Haruna, was quoted on television as having categorically stated that mobile money and bank agents would not be impacted. We have written to the CBN, but we have not heard back yet.

Olojo also placed his faith in the CBN governor’s promises of flexibility in the policy.

We are awaiting a revised policy that demonstrates the flexibility because the CBN governor also stated that they would be flexible. He added that the national assembly, which opposes the new CBN policy, has also stated that it will exert pressure on the governor.

Dr. Adams Adebayo, the chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, also commented on the policy and told our correspondent that the association had a meeting about it last week with the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions.

In particular for PoS and small business owners, the Senate committee assured the Council of MSMEs that the CBN Governor would review it, Adebayo said.

When asked when the apex bank would announce the review of the policy, CBN spokesman Osita Nwanisobi was unavailable, so he could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

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