Cashless policy: CBN should tell us how they arrived at the charges, say reps

The house of representatives has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to explain how it arrived at the charges adopted in the recently re-introduced cashless policy.

Victor Nwokolo, chairman of the house committee on banking and currency, said the apex bank should explain the indices used to adopt the new rate.

The CBN had directed all deposit money banks in the country to charge 3% processing fees for withdrawals and 2% for deposits of amounts above N500,000 for individual accounts.

Corporate account holders will be charged 5% processing fees for withdrawals and 3% for deposits of amounts above N3 million.

The directive was, however, criticised by some Nigerians after which the lower legislative chamber asked the CBN to halt its implementation pending further discussion.

In a statement on Sunday, Nwokolo said the apex bank should also explain the rationale behind the policy.

He, however, denied that the house summoned Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor, while debating a motion on the matter during its plenary session.

“The motion simply asked the CBN governor and the bankers committee to interface with us so that we can find ways and means to curb the hardship of the policy on Nigerians,” he said.

“We need to know how they arrived at the charges and the indices used to arrive at the conclusion too. Our intention on this issue is simple and it simply aims at the possibility of Nigerians using the policy to their advantage.

“By so doing, we’ll know where it bites most through the proposed interface with the governor and his officials.

“There was no place that we mentioned in the motion that the House is summoning the arrowhead of the apex bank of the country. The CBN governor has been the vanguard of how our various economic policies can get the right direction for the progress of Nigeria.”