- The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has suspended the implementation of cashless policy -
CBN in a circular released on Friday, April 21, directed banks to revert to old charges and refund customers who had been debited - CBN said the existing policy before the announcement of the new policy shall remain in place in Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Abia, Anambra, Rivers and Abuja The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has suspended the implementation of cashless policy.
CBN in a circular released on Friday, April 21, directed banks to revert to old charges and refund customers who had been debited. The circular signed by Dipo Fatokun, director, banking and payments system department, CBN said the existing policy before the announcement of the new policy shall remain in place in Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Abia, Anambra, Rivers and Abuja.
The circular reads:“You will recall that a directive was issued on the nationwide implementation of the cashless policy vide our circulars with reference numbers BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/04/001 dated February 21 and BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/04/002 dated March 16.” “Please note that the new withdrawal and deposit processing fee charges above the threshold, as contained in the circulars referenced above, are hereby suspended until further notice. The position of the policy shall now revert to the status quo ante.” “The new policy already applied effective April 1, 2017 as contained in the circulars in reference above should be reversed and the old charges be applied. All necessary refunds should be made accordingly.” NAIJ.com previously reported that in 2012, the CBN introduced a cashless policy programme, which was first introduced as a pilot scheme in Lagos. The policy stipulated a ‘cash handling charge’ on daily cash withdrawals that exceed 500,000 naira for individuals and 3,000,000 naira for corporate bodies. This was under the leadership of the leadership of the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido. READ ALSO: President Buhari mourns death of football viewers in Calabar With the policy proven to be effective in Lagos, the CBN extended it to six other states; Kano, Rivers, Anambra, Abia, Ogun and Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city in 2013 and then in July 2014 it was rolled out nationwide.
Naij