Point of Sale (PoS) operators under the auspices of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN), have sought the reversal of the new cash limit withdrawal policy that was recently introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Expressing his dissatisfaction with the policy, the AMMBAN National President, Victor Olojo disclosed that the National Assembly has promised to prevail on the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to revise the policy.
BizWatch Nigeria reported that the new policy by the CBN fixed weekly cash withdrawals for individuals at N100, 000 and corporate bodies at N500,000 weekly.
The directive further has it that withdrawals above the thresholds would attract processing fees of five percent and 10 percent respectively, for individuals and corporate entities effective Monday, January 9, 2023.
In addition, third-party cheques above N50,000 shall not be eligible for over-the-counter payment while extant limits of N10 million on clearing cheques still remain.
However, in a petition dated Friday, December 16, 2022, the PoS operators called on the CBN to review its policy and save 1.4m bank agents from losing their means of livelihood.
Providing an update on the matter, Olojo explained that the assurances given by the CBN and National assembly that POS operators would not be affected by the policy have made the group soft-pedal on its planned legal action.
The AMMBAN chief, however, warned that should the policy not be reversed, the group would take the matter to court.
His words: “We have not gone to court yet because we have gotten assurances and we are waiting for a formal response from the CBN. We have visited the National Assembly and we have also explored other tools at our disposal at this time.
“They have given words of assurance that mobile money and POS operators would not be affected. So, we are waiting for an official statement from the CBN. However, if anything doesn’t change by the end of the year, we will go to the streets to protest and go to court.
‘’Remember that the Director of Banking Supervision, Mustafa Haruna, was quoted on a television station to have categorically stated that mobile money and bank agents would not be affected, so we just want to take that as an assurance while waiting for a formal report. We have written to the CBN but we are yet to get a response.’’
