The Nigerian Senate has decided to question two deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) about the apex bank’s cash withdrawal limit policy.
The CBN policy, which was released on Tuesday, limits over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals and organizations to N100,000 and N500,000 per week, respectively.
According to a memo signed Tuesday by the CBN’s Director of Banking Supervision, Haruna Mustafa, cash withdrawals via point-of-sale machines and automated teller machines are limited to N20,000 daily and N100,000 weekly, respectively.
The new directive, which goes into effect on January 9, 2023, states that withdrawals above the thresholds will now incur processing fees of 5% and 10%, respectively, for individuals and corporate entities.
Only N200 and lower denominations will be loaded into their ATMs, with a daily withdrawal limit of N20,000.
Senate Deliberation
On the Senate floor on Wednesday, Senate President Ahmad Lawan directed the Senate Committee on Banking to question the two re-appointed CBN deputy governors, Aisha Ahmad and Edward Adamu, who will be screened on Friday, on the new cash withdrawal policy.
This came after Senator Philip Aduda (PDP FCT) moved a motion on the development.
Aduda attempted to rally other senators to debate the policy, but Senate President Lawan cut him off, saying it was too early to debate the circular.
Lawan stated that the newly re-appointed deputy CBN governors would be screened between Thursday and Monday so that by Tuesday, they would have enough information to support or oppose the policy.
He said;
Before Tuesday next week, our committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions mandated to screen the re – appointed deputy governors of the Central Bank should focus its questions on the planned policy.
The CBN deputy governors must be thoroughly grilled on the policy after which extensive debate on it will be made by Senators on Tuesday next week.
Also speaking to The PUNCH, the lawmaker representing Kaduna Central and Chairman Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Instructions, Senator Uba Sani said the CBN deputy governors would be screened on Friday.
He said;
We are working on their letters, the letters will be served tomorrow (Today) and the deputy governors of the CBN will be screened on Friday.’