The Senate on Friday screened the two re-appointed deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria and backed down on the planned grilling of the officials on the cash withdrawal limit policy unveiled by the apex bank on Tuesday.
The Red Chamber had on Wednesday at the plenary directed its committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions to get clarifications from the apex bank chiefs when screening them for their re-appointment. Our correspondent observed that the senators simply asked for an explanation from the deputy governors without further probing into the policy’s details.
The Deputy Governor of CBN on Financial System Stability, Mrs. Aishat Ahmad, explained that the policy was introduced in 2012 during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and extended to Abuja and six other states in 2013. She told the committee that the cashless policy being fully implemented by CBN now is not new, as required steps in that direction, were taken in 2012 with Lagos State as a pilot scheme and Abuja and six other states in 2013. Ahmad added, “Though full implementation of the policy has not been carried out by CBN since then, its introduction has brought a lot of transformations in the banking and payment system.
“Based on information available to CBN, the time for full implementation of the policy with the proposed limit on cash withdrawals per week is now.” She added, “The required infrastructure for its implementation in terms of financial access point system, mobile money, e-naira, etc, is available across the 774 local government councils in the country.
The CBN chief, however, said that the apex bank is flexible and will be ready to accommodate opinions that won’t make the policy strenuous to any category of Nigerians during implementation. After her presentation, the committee chaired by Senator Uba Sani (APC Kaduna Central), asked that the CBN chiefs ‘take a bow and go’ as moved by the Whip of the Senate, who doubles as the Deputy Chairman of the committee, Senator Orji Kalu (APC, Abia North) and seconded by Senator Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe Central). Sani said, “With the presentation made by the deputy governor of CBN on Financial System Stability, Aisha Ahmad, on the planned limited cash withdrawal, required information on the merits of the policy has been given and will be communicated to the Senate in plenary through our report. “The two deputy governors, having earlier been screened before serving their first tenure, need not to again as unanimously agree by members of the committee. They should therefore take a bow and go.”
