Senate asks CBN to adjust cash withdrawal limit in response ‘to public outcry’

The senate has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to upwardly adjust the limit on cash withdrawal in its new policy in response to “public outcry.”

The upper legislative chamber took the position on Wednesday after Uba Sani, chairman of the committee on banking, presented a report.

Recently, the apex bank announced a restriction on the maximum cash withdrawal over-the-counter (OTC) by individuals and corporate organisations per week to N100,000 and N500,000, respectively.

The new policy will take effect from January 9, 2023.

The senate also directed its banking committee to continue to embark on “aggressive” oversight of the CBN to ensure it delivers on its commitment to flexible adjustment of the policy.

Meanwhile, before the recommendations of the committee were adopted, a number of senators kicked against the cash withdrawal limit policy.

Ajibola Basiru, spokesman of the senate, said the threshold for individuals should be raised to N500,000.

“The threshold that has been set is unrealistic to have any robust and meaningful life for our people. I am not oblivious of the fact that the committee has come up with recommendations,” Basiru said.

“As a committee of the senate, we ought to have been alerted with certain indices to come up with recommendations on what should be the adjustment. I am suggesting that the threshold should be N500,000 for individuals per week.”

Also speaking, Adamu Aliero, senator representing Kebbi central, argued that only 60 percent of the country’s 744 LGA are covered by banks, hence the use of alternative sources to get cash.

“It is difficult to really force these people to embrace banking culture. I support the idea of cashless policy but we should do it with caution,” Aliero said.

On his part, Biodun Olujimi, senator representing Ekiti south, said the POS took graduates off the street but the policy would send them back.

“The CBN approved POS operators and registered them and took money from them and now those people can only do so little,” she said.

“It took all our unemployed graduates off the street. This policy will send them back to the streets.”