Withdrawal Limit: CHRICED Demands Policy Reversal

The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has described as ‘draconian’ the policy on Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) regulation of cash withdrawal limits for individuals and corporations.

The civil society organisation (CSO), in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Ibrahim ZIkirullahi, and made available to Development Diaries, called on the National Assembly to apply maximum pressure to force a reversal of the policy.

It said in a country where the vast majority of people struggle to earn a living in the informal sector, the policy to restrict cash withdrawals amounts to an attempt to impoverish even more citizens.

CHRICED further argued that the majority of poor and unbanked Nigerians would be struck even harder, as smartphones are the only common means to engage in digital transactions, such as cashless payments.

The statement read, ‘The implication of the CBN’s cruel policy is that electronic payments are not as secure as they would have the gullible believe, at least not in Nigeria.

‘Without the proper infrastructure, a cashless system exposes citizens to hackers and robbers of the electronic world, who can drain one’s account with no other way to spend money’.

Highlighting the latest National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report indicating that 133 million Nigerians live in multidimensional poverty, it said well-intentioned government institutions should examine policy choices that will stimulate the economy and put money in the hands of citizens.

The statement noted how the policy would result in the loss of jobs in an already crippling economy.

‘In a country where millions of citizens are still reeling from the devastating economic realities imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of livelihoods and jobs, it defies belief that a government, unable to provide any form of economic stimulus, would even consider an idea that would result in more people losing their jobs.

‘It is disheartening that the CBN does not care about the millions of people whose livelihoods will be destroyed as a result of the apex bank’s rash and harebrained experimentation’.

Photo source: CBN

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