Following the imposition of cash withdrawal limits on transactions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) has written to the apex bank requesting exclusion from the policy.
The requested exclusion is not aimed at reversing the policy but rather keeping the business of its estimated 1.4 million members afloat as the national president of the association, Victor Olojo, says the new policy will send his colleagues out of business.
“All of these efforts ARE NOT aimed at making the CBN change her policy but for us agents to be recognized and enable us to have access to more funds better than the 20,000 a day as prescribed by the new policy.
“You will agree with me as agents that if all we can access is 100,000 a week /20,000 a day as cash for running our business, then we are practically out of business,” Mr Olojo said in a statement.
The decision to write the CBN was reached at an emergency meeting of the association held in Abuja on Wednesday. The association also disclosed that it is engaging sister stakeholders, such as the Association of Licensed Operators (ALMPO), to present a joint front in addressing the situation, Mr Olojo, in the statement.
The association says it is also planning to organise press conferences in Lagos and Abuja as well as a protest to call the attention of the federal government to its displeasure.
“We plan to undertake other lines of action like organising a grand press conference in Lagos and Abuja and a protest,” the statement added.
The CBN announced on Tuesday that individuals and corporate organisations would not be able to withdraw more than N100,000 and N500,000, respectively, per week from over-the-counter, point-of-sale machines or automated teller machines.
Several commentators describe the policy as an attempt to tax all dimensions of financial transactions – cash and internet banking. According to the new CBN policy, cash withdrawals in excess of the restrictions will be subject to processing costs of five and 10 per cent, respectively. For mobile money operators, who have until now bridged the financial inclusion gap across the country, the policy will impose a crushing cost on them.
Since the announcement of the new policy, thousands of operators have gone into a panic about what impact the policy would have on their business.
Operators in residential areas of the Federal Capital Territory bemoaned the policy accusing the CBN of taking away their source of livelihood without consideration.
Musa Yinusa, an operator said that the policy was inconsiderate owing to the fact that he carries out transactions worth up to N200,000 per day.
“What I see is that they have not considered the law very well,” he said. “For example, here, we sometimes transact up to 200k per day, sometimes even more than that, but we cannot do that with this policy,” Mr Yinusa said.
Another operator who simply identified himself as Emma said that the transactions would increase the physical stress of accessing money for citizens while also creating unemployment.
Mr Emma, who lives in Trademore estate, runs three mobile money centres where he has employed associates who earn up to N15,000 per month.
“The closest major bank to this place is on the other side of Lugbe (six kilometres from his shop); if we are not here, people will have to go down there to get money like 10,000 or even 20.
“What is going to happen when we are out of business?” he asked.
“I have three people. One at the police signboard (a bus stop in the area), one in phase one, and one here who is helping with the business, and they are earning,” he added.
“If I am not able to withdraw money from the bank, how can we sustain the business?” he added.
The policy, per the CBN memo, will come into effect on January 9, 2023, as the apex bank under Muhammadu Buhari’s regime continues its efforts to monitor the cash in circulation.
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