Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has said that the apex bank won’t be rigid with the recently imposed cash withdrawal policy.
Recall that the CBN recently restricted the maximum cash withdrawal over-the-counter (OTC) by individuals and corporate organisations per week to N100,000 and N500,000, respectively.
Commenting on this while speaking with journalists after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina state, Emefiele said the policy was adopted to digitize the economy.
He said Buhari was “very happy and said we should carry on our work, no need to fear, no need to bother about anybody.”
When asked if there are plans to reverse the new cash withdrawal policy, Emefiele said;
“We will be reviewing from time to time how this is working because I cannot say that we are going to be rigid.
“But it is not to say that we will reverse, it is not to say that we will change the timing, but whether it is about tricking (sic) some amount to be a little bit higher or a little bit lower, and all the rest of them.
“We will do so because we are humans, we want to make sure that we are making life good for our people. We do not want to make life difficult for them.
“So, there is no need for anybody to worry, the central bank is monitoring what is happening and I can assure everyone that we are up and alive to our responsibilities and we will do what is right for Nigeria and Nigerians.
“We think, Nigeria as a big country, the biggest economy in Africa, that we need to leapfrog into the cashless economy.
“We cannot continue to allow a situation where over 85 percent of the cash that is in circulation is outside the bank. More and more countries that are embracing digitisation have gone cashless.”
Emefiele also debunked claims of the policy being targeted at specific persons/groups. He added;
“I said it at different fora, that this is not targeted at anybody, it’s just meant for the good and development of the Nigerian economy and we can only continue to appeal to Nigerians to please see this policy the way we have presented it.”
