Nigeria’s 36 state governors have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to extend the deadline for the execution of the old Naira notes swap.
They also urge him to review the Central Bank of Nigeria’s cashless policy.
The governors made the demand in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari dated February 6, 2023, and signed by Aminu Tambuwal, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Sokoto State.
On December 6, 2022, the CBN authorized all deposit money banks and other financial institutions, payment service banks, primary mortgage banks, and microfinance banks to limit the maximum cash withdrawal over the counter by individuals and corporate entities weekly to N100,000 and N500,000, respectively, noting that withdrawals beyond the lower level would incur processing costs of 5% and 10%, respectively.
Following the central bank’s recent naira notes redesign, the apex bank further directed that third-party cheques over N50,000 should not be appropriate for OTC payment, but existing limits of N10 million on clearing cheques stay.
But the NGF, in its letter, said, “Even though the identified constraints are to be found in almost every state in the country, they are particularly evident in states like Borno in the North East and Bayelsa in the south-south where one finds a pitiable number of banks located only in the State capital which would basically render the workability of the new policies impossible for now.
“The speed of implementation of the policy is a recipe for anarchy in the country and we urge a re-think of the policy. Regarding the reviewed cash withdrawal limit, we have found from synthesizing experiences across the country that the informal sector in the States, particularly in the Northern and Niger Delta States almost wholly depends on cash transactions because of the nature of their operations.”