Cash Withdrawal Limits: Fintiri Blows Hot, Says Policy Directed At Politicians

More reactions have trailed the Central Bank of Nigeria‘s (CBN) reintroduction of the cash withdrawal limits which is slated to take effect from January 9, 2023.

Naija News reports that even though the CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele has reteirated that the implementation of the policy wasn’t targeted at anyone but for the good of the country’s economy, attacks on the new move of the apex bank’s decision have persisted.

The latest on the list of reactions is the Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri ,who has come out to declare that the CBN’s cash withdrawal limits were directed to punish politicians.

The governor at his 2023 governorship campaign engagement in Kala’a, a community in Hong’s local government area of the state, attacked Emefiele saying the policy was targeted at the political class.

He insinuated that the CBN’s new cashless policy was to deliberately hurt some people.

Naija News recalls that the CBN released a policy on Tuesday restricting over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals and organisations to N100,000 and N500,000, respectively, per week.

According to a memo signed by the CBN’s Director of Banking Supervision, Haruna Mustafa, the policy limits cash withdrawals via point-of-sale machines and automated teller machines to N20,000 daily and N100,000 weekly, respectively.

A development has aroused reaction from various quarters as the House of Representatives on Thursday at its plenary asked the apex bank to suspend the implementation of the cash withdrawal policy.

Fintiri, in his reaction, called on major national institutions to always act in the public’s interest, while querying why such a policy followed the CBN governor’s failed attempt to delve into politics.

The governor stated that: “What is breeding poverty? Economic policies. Look at the one that is about to be implemented by the Central Bank which would further throw the country into poverty. Nobody is saying the economy shouldn’t be cashless, but take time and do it systematically.

“We shouldn’t do it as if some people wanted to be politicians and they were denied the opportunity, then they use their office to punish the politicians.”  

The governor also reteirated his call for a constitutional amendment to allow for a true federation where states make their money and have full control of it.

He said, “If we are talking about governors diverting funds, we expect the government to correct the anomaly by sponsoring an amendment to the Nigerian constitution to separate the office of the accountant general of the federation from the accountant general of the federal government so that funds belonging to local government and the state would not also be converted by the federal government because what the governors’ are being accused of, the Federal Government can equally be accused of doing same ten times over.

“The way the system is couched there’s no autonomy even for the states nor for the local governments and nobody sees the states as sub-national of the federation because everything is being controlled at the centre.”