• Company to draw not above N500,000
• Experts speak on apex bank’s policy

A sweeping new currency management policy announced yesterday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has put a cap on cash withdrawals by individuals and corporate bodies.

Beginning from January 9, individuals and companies will only be able to withdraw a maximum of N100, 000 and N500, 000 cash respectively in a week across the counter, the apex bank said.

The revised cash withdrawal limits also affect other payment channels; including Automated Teller Machine (ATM), Point of Sale (PoS) and cheque-based transaction.

It applies generally to all commercial banks and other cash-transaction banks such as payment service banks (PSBs), primary mortgage banks (PMB) and microfinance banks (MFBs).

Under the policy, individuals and companies withdrawing cash directly from the banking hall will pay five per cent and 10 per cent on withdrawals above the approved threshold.

The bank also pegged the maximum cash withdrawal through ATM is set at N100, 000 per week, subject to a maximum daily withdrawal of N20, 000.

In the same vein, the maximum cash withdrawal through PoS terminal shall be N20, 000 per day.

The apex bank also imposed more stringent conditions with special documentation and approval for such compelling above-limit withdrawals

“Only denominations of N200 and below shall be loaded into the ATMs,” the bank stated in the circular.

The CBN directed that third party cheques above N50, 000 shall not be eligible for payment over-the-counter but retained the N10 million limits earlier placed on clearing cheques.

According to the apex bank, in compelling circumstances, not exceeding once a month, where cash withdrawals above the prescribed limits is required for legitimate purposes, such cash withdrawals shall not exceed N5 million and N10 million for individuals and corporate organisations, respectively, and shall be subject to the referenced processing fees as well as additional enhanced due diligence and information requirements.

The policy was announced in a letter to deposit money banks and other financial institutions, signed by CBN Director, Banking Supervision Department, Haruna Mustafa.

The letter, titled: “Naira Redesign Policy- Revised Cash Withdrawal Limits” was addressed to all Deposit Money Banks (DMBS) and Other Financial Institutions (Payment Service Banks (PSBs), Primary Mortgage Banks (PMB) and Microfinance Banks (MFBs).

It reads: “Besides, individuals and companies seeking above-limit withdrawals must be made to provide and submit additional information to a special, purposely created CBN portal.

“These information include valid means of identification of the payee such as national identity, international passport, driver’s license; Bank Verification Number (BVN) of the payee and notarized customer declaration of the purpose for the cash withdrawal.

“Also, such above-limit withdrawal must be under special approval of the managing director of the drawee and an approval in writing by the managing director and chief executive officer of the bank authorising the withdrawal.”

According to the new policy directive, monthly returns on cash withdrawal transactions above the specified limits should be rendered to the Banking Supervision Department while compliance with extant Anti-money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) regulations relating to Know Your Customer (KYC) ongoing customer due diligence and suspicious transaction reporting among others are required in all circumstances.

The CBN said that customers should be encouraged to use alternative channels (internet banking, mobile banking apps, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), cards/Point of Sale (POS), eNaira, among others ) to conduct their banking transactions.

The decision is not unconnected to the CBN’s determination to curb inflation, reduce money supply in the system and make Nigerians embrace alternative channels of banking transactions that promote financial inclusion.

CBN Governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele gave a hint to this development at the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

Read Also: CBN okays new guidelines to tackle money laundering

Emefiele drew people’s attention to the fact that the highest denominations in the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (UK) though still legal tenders are barely in circulation and draw attention when seen in use.

According to him, this is what the CBN wants to target to promote the cashless policy and financial inclusion.

Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PwC, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, said it was clear that the CBN was trying to drive cashless economy by placing stiffer restrictions on cash withdrawals.

Oyedele said: “However, a more effective strategy could have been to enhance the cashless economy infrastructure to remove or significantly reduce the challenges and irritations that people experience when transacting using electronic payments.

“Each of us regularly experience unsuccessful electronic payment transactions either due to bad network, switch failure or even lack of electricity to charge the devices. “We can make cashless economy attractive as is the case with MPESA in East Africa so people voluntarily embrace it rather than the stick approach which will unfortunately punish many people for circumstances that are beyond their control.”

Managing Director, Globalview Capital Limited, Mr. Aruna Kebira, said the new policy was a continuation of the apex bank’s inflation-targeting stance and cashless drive.

Kebira said: “In elementary economics, we were taught that inflation is a situation where more money chases few goods. Our economy responds to the happenings in the international space because we don’t have a buffer.

“The disruption of the global supply chain by the Ukraine and Russia imbroglio left the world with high and imported inflation over the world.

“The CBN has been forced to increase interest rates in all their meetings for 2022 trying to combat and stem inflation to no avail. The only choice available to CBN is contractional monetary policy.

“What this withdrawal limit is set to achieve is to mop up as much cash as possible from the system. It believes that the much money in circulation is what is responsible for the high demand for the dollar and the attendance pressure on the naira. It is also targeted at the payment of ransom.

“It is an attempt by the CBN to make every transaction pass through the bank and to discourage the situation we just witnessed where notes that were printed in 2002 were kept outside the banking system.”

He, however, noted that the result of the decision may not be immediate pointing out that “policy is not a light bulb switch that you press and immediately there is light, policies take time to come to shape but in the end, the desired effect will be achieved”.

Former Executive Director, Keystone Bank Limited, Richard Obire, said the policy will encourage cashless economy.

He said the use less of higher denominations like N1, 000 notes will help tackle rising inflation and such higher denominations will now serve as store of value.

Obire said: “We do not need N1, 000 notes for spending. The lower denominations will be widely used in the new policy plan and makes a lot of sense.”

Managing Director, SD & D Capital Management Limited, Mr. Gbolade Idakolo, said the measure will, to a large extent, reduce the volume of cash in circulation.

He said: “The measure will also boost the value of the naira when there is less of N500 and N1000 naira notes in circulation as it is being done with the dollars, Euro and Pounds Sterling. This policy implementation will go a long way to increase the use of other means of transactions like the internet banking, dollars, ATMs and PoS to boost the cashless policy of the CBN.

“We know that our economy has been a cash economy for a long time so these measures will initially cause disruptions in the economy but things will settle in the long run and the economy will be better for it.”

• Ex-governor speaks on records, wealth, economy

• Campaign council defends Chatham House outing

All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential standard bearer Asiwaju Bola Tinubu yesterday described himself as the candidate to beat in next year’s election.

He said there was no contender for the highest office who can match his track record.

The eminent politician spoke on his records, wealth and the economy in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Africa Service, monitored by The Nation.

Also yesterday, the APC Presidential Campaign Council dissected the manifesto of the Labour Party (LP) candidate, saying it cannot offer any refreshing relief to Nigerians.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it was not impressed by Tinubu’s performance at the Chatham House, London, on Monday.

The Director of Strategic Communication of Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation, Dele Momodu, said in a statement that it was “a complete charade”.

But, the APC Presidential Campaign Council defended Tinubu, saying he demonstrated capacity, competence, experience and the worth of leadership.

Describing himself as the most competent candidate, Tinubu said other contenders were not up to the task.

He said: “Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar are not competent. They are not as competent as any other person out there. They’ve no track record, none of them is qualified except me.”

Expressing optimism that next year’s polls will be free and fair, Tinubu said: “Things are going very well. I’m very confident that this election will be free and fair. I’m the frontrunner, and that’s why I’m getting many arrows.

“My top priorities are security, and economic recovery to accelerate development to get Nigerians employed and get inflation down. You know, monetary policy needs to be changed. Subsidy needs to be decided upon and then, removed.

“Insecurity in Nigeria is actually reduced, and I will defend him (Buhari) for that. Then, in 17 local and about four states, we had flags of foreign jihadists in Nigeria. That’s no more; that’s long gone.

“To start chaos is easy, to bring normalcy and redecorate is more difficult. Here we are, Buhari has degraded, but not completely eliminated ISWAP. We need mass recruitment of individuals in a volunteer army to really clean up.

“I’m different. I am Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I have governed Lagos. I built a modern state that could be a country on its own. I’ve led an administration that’s so prudent, from N600million internally generated revenue to N5 billion a month.

“That’s a record. Nobody else can brag about that. I’ve treated and tamed the Atlantic Ocean surge in Nigeria that would have perished so many people in Lagos. The infrastructural renewal of Lagos is excellent. I have continuity in Lagos.

“Buhari has done his best, he’s my leader in the party.”

Read Also: I’m confident Nigerians will vote for me, I’m ready to lead — Tinubu

Speaking on the source of his wealth, he said: “I have an example of Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world. He started from stock buying and brokerages. I inherited great real estate. I turned the values around. I’m not denying my wealth.

“I was the most investigated, the most accused governor in opposition up to, you know, for eight years, and up till 2007, and since I’ve left the office. I’m still there. I’ve not taken any government appointments. No government contracts.

“I’m not getting any share of the revenue from Lagos. The World Bank and IMF have investigated the record in Lagos.”

LP manifesto faulted

APC Campaign Council said the LP manifesto titled: “It is Possible: Our Pact with Nigerians,” was high on graphics, demagogic rhetorics and short on substance.

The council criticised the LP flag bearer Peter Obi for the use of the subtitle ‘Action Plan’, which the APC-PCC said was shamelessly parroted from Tinubu’s manifesto.

The campaign organisation, in a statement by its Director, Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, in Abuja, said aside from falling short of expectation, the LP policy document “is a poor imitation and regurgitation of what the current APC-led administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is doing.”

It maintained that the document reeled out by Obi and his running mate, Ahmed Datti, showed that they are ill-prepared for the task of governing Nigeria.

The statement reads: “As a candidate, he (Obi) has nothing new to offer Nigerians beyond hawking fake statistics and preying on the young people’s sentiments as a demagogue.

“We are glad that LP and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, finally released their much-awaited policy document after many contradictory statements on same.

“After perusing the document which is very high on graphics and demagogic rhetorics and short on substance, we have concluded that the document is empty and vacuous.

“Peter Obi’s document contains no grand policy initiatives and options to excite right-thinking Nigerians.

“It was silent about how Obi wanted to achieve his high falutin objectives.

“Instead, it will set alarm bells ringing in the Southsouth and Northeast as Obi promises to ‘engineer the transition of Nigeria from a fossil fuel dependency to climate and eco-friendly energy use”.

Faulting the document, APC-PCC alleged that Obi’s document contains fallacies and false statistics.

Read Also: Tinubu won’t succumb to Arise News blackmail-PCC

“Obi claimed China moved 740 million people out of poverty. He understated the achievement and was silent about the period it took the Chinese Communist party to achieve this.

“China moved close to 800 million people out of poverty and it was achieved in 40 years. This makes the present APC government’s plan to move 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years, more realistic than Obi’s rhetoric tends to suggest.

“One of the fallacies contained in the document, which Obi has often repeated to his followers, is that Nigeria is a failed state.

“We wonder whether the LP candidate sometimes bothers to check the meaning of a failed state and whether the country he dreams to govern falls into the mould of Yemen or Somalia, where institutions of government have lost total control of their societies.

“Another fallacy is Obi’s claim that Nigeria recorded modest gains between 1999-2015, the PDP years, even when all verifiable evidence points to the contrary.

“The LP candidate simplistically diagnosed Nigeria’s problem as ‘elite, which is self-indicting as he and his running mate, who he styled ‘new breed’ are members.

“He claims incompetent leadership has divided the nation, playing up religious and ethnic sentiments.

“Another self-indictment as the hallmark of his campaign has been to jump from one church to the other, positioning himself as a ‘Christian candidate’ and inciting the church against the current APC government.

“The document Obi released is a poor imitation and regurgitation of what the current APC-led administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is doing.

“If anything, the document showed him as a man without honour, credibility and character because he is promising to do all the things he has railed against and de-legitimised in the past.

“We make bold to state that Obi lacks the mental acuity and rigour for the job he is asking Nigerians to entrust to him. He is surely not ready and prepared to be the President this great country deserves.

“And if indeed the LP candidate paid for the wishy-washy document, he should ask for a refund for the following reasons:

“On security, in his document, Obi and his running mate promised to tackle insecurity, and defeat Boko Haram, Bandits and other violent crimes by partnering with Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

“It is a pity that Obi and his party didn’t know that President Muhammadu Buhari did this within his first week in office as President in 2015 and has continued to strengthen regional cooperation.

“The Multinational Joint Military Task Force with headquarters in Ndjamena, Republic of Chad is an outcome of the successful diplomatic shuttle to these neighbouring countries, including the Benin Republic.

“Through the Joint Military Task Force and our gallant soldiers, Boko Haram and ISWAP have been routed out of Nigeria and permanently degraded and the whole of North East is stable.

“Thousands of displaced people have returned to their communities to restart their social and economic activities.

“Peter Obi has nothing to offer on security if he is only promising what Buhari has been doing for over seven years.

“Anambra was one of the most unsecured and volatile states riddled with criminals and kidnappers when Obi was Governor for eight years without any solution until Governor Willie Obiano came to tackle the problems head-on.

“On Power: In a surprising departure from his penchant for falsehood, Peter promised to continue and complete the $ 2.5 billion FG-Siemens Power network upgrade.

“Nigerians should recall Peter Obi told the world that he went to Egypt on a study tour of power where he was told by Siemens that nothing is happening on the power agreement the company signed with the Nigerian government.

“Without apologising for his lies and deliberate mischief, Peter Obi is promising in his document to continue with a project he said does not exist. What a travesty!

“In a show of total lack of awareness, Obi also promised to complete Dadinkowa hydropower project as part of his promise to solve electricity problems in Nigeria without knowing that the same project has since been completed by the current administration of President Buhari.

“On Infrastructure: Peter Obi promised to invest in infrastructure, especially rail, ports, broadband, roads, airports etc.

“We find this laughable and barefaced dishonesty just to hoodwink Nigerians. This is the same Obi who has launched the most vicious attacks on President Buhari for having the courage to upgrade our broken critical infrastructure.

“For the past seven years, Obi’s sing-song has been that infrastructure does not help the economy and eliminate poverty.

“While President Buhari and the APC administration believe there can never be any meaningful economic growth without the infrastructure to power it, we don’t expect, Obi, a warehouse and container economist to understand the nexus between economic growth and infrastructure.

“It is good that Obi has now seen the light on the social and economic imperatives of infrastructure but he can’t be trusted to do anything.

“There is no signature infrastructural project Obi can point to in Anambra State where he governed for eight years.”

Anambra under Obi compared to Lagos under Tinubu

On non-oil GDP and Widening Tax Net, the APC-PCC said: “We are happy that Obi admitted in his document that non-oil revenue has increased significantly under the Buhari-led APC administration and he will continue with the success.

“Unfortunately, Obi has no record of increasing revenue.

“As governor for eight years in Anambra State, Obi could not grow the Internally Generated Revenue of the state by the ordinary five per cent year on year.

“His current successor, Governor Charles Soludo, attested to Obi’s mediocre performance as Governor of Anambra in his recent widely published article.

“If Obi could not change the fortunes of the state he led for eight years, he cannot deliver on non-oil revenue for Nigeria.

“Only our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has the record to grow revenue and significantly improve non-oil GDP because he set the standards in Lagos which the Federal government copied.

“Today, Lagos State is the 5th largest economy in Africa with over $150b GDP.

“The current APC-led Federal government has expanded the tax net in Nigeria from 10 million payers in 2016 to the current 41 million according to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

“The Buhari administration alone brought 31 million new taxpayers into the net from 2016 to 2021, more than what all previous governments since independence have ever achieved.”

The APC council said contrary to the image of a reformer and thinker Obi and his followers have created, the LP candidate is vapid, intellectually arid, a mere impostor, who only seeks to play on the emotions of his gullible followers.

It added: “Obi’s policy document, if anything, has only exposed him as ill-prepared for the titanic task of governing a country the size of Nigeria.

“As a candidate, he has nothing new to offer Nigerians beyond hawking fake statistics and preying on the young people’s sentiments as a demagogue.

“His whole presidential ambition is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, to paraphrase Williams Shakespeare in his play Macbeth.”

•Govt raises special panel to check crude stealing

Nigeria may lose $23billion next year if crude oil theft continues, National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno, said yesterday.

He said the escalation of acts of vandalism and crude oil theft had led to a significant decline in production.

The NSA spoke while inaugurating an 11-man special investigative panel on oil theft/losses in Nigeria.

The panel is chaired by the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Major General Barry Ndiomu. Mr. David Attah is the Secretary.     Other members include retired top military and police officers, as well as other seasoned administrators.

Inaugurating the panel, Monguno noted that Nigeria loses revenue that ought to have accrued from the sale of crude oil, being the main source of its foreign exchange earnings.

NSA said Nigeria had consistently failed to meet its daily production quota of about two million barrels per day as provided by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

He added that the country struggles to meet even one million barrels per day.

Monguno added that recent interventions by the security agencies had revealed massive illicit platforms of stealing, ranging from marine evacuations via vessels, and load-outs from illegal operations platforms.

The NSA said: “The government has been briefed on the dwindling economic fortunes, including the inability to replenish foreign reserves and reduction in revenue, thereby affecting accruals into the Federation Account.

“With the scale of the theft and losses and the alleged complicity of regulatory agencies/officials and security personnel as well as the involvement of international collaborators, the enterprise is deeply entrenched and would be extremely, difficult to exterminate without very stern and decisive action by the government.

“The menace of oil theft/losses is completely unacceptable, considering its attendant impact on the economy, national development and security.

“It is an affront to government and its institutions, which must be tackled without further delay.

“It is in this connection that the government, worried by the ugly trend, among other things, directed the setting up of a Special Investigative Panel on Oil Theft/Losses in Nigeria to investigate all aspects of crude oil theft, identify the culprits and submit its Report for necessary action,” he said.

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Monguno said the panel was expected to investigate oil theft/losses in all its ramifications and propose a wide-ranging array of implementable recommendations to enable this administration to take decisive action to end the criminal enterprise within the shortest possible time.

He said members were appointed based on their proven integrity, track record of service, competence and dedication to the national cause.

He urged them to work to unravel individuals and groups perpetrating the national economic crime, no matter how highly placed they might be.

The Terms of Reference (ToRs), according to NSA, are to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the illegal insertion into the Trans-Escravos Pipeline (TEP) around Yokri area in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State

“They are to establish the ramifications of crude oil theft/losses in Nigeria; ascertain the causative factors immediate and remote, of crude oil/theft/losses in the country and ascertain the extent of crude oil theft/losses in the country.

“With the widest possible amplitude, identify persons/entities whether public, private or foreign, involved in the criminal enterprise and establish the level of culpability of identified persons/entities in the enterprise.

“The panel is to also examine the specific roles of regulatory agencies; security agencies, tiers/arms of government and International Oil Companies (IOCs) in aiding and abetting the criminal enterprise.

“They are to also assess the efficacy of security architecture/arrangement in tackling crude oil theft/losses and associated petroleum products and recommend appropriate commensurate and sufficiently, deterrent sanctions on all those culpable,” he said.

Monguno also tasked the panel to recommend steps/procedures/processes to be taken by the government to eliminate the enterprise in the industry to prevent future occurrence and make any other recommendations on any other issue incidental to the terms of reference.

He said the panel was expected to commence its assignment with immediate effect and to conclude as well as submit its report on or before Feb. 21, 2023.

The Permanent Secretary, Special Services, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Aliyu Yerro, said the menace of crude oil theft had greatly impacted the nation’s revenue growth.

The panel chairman, Maj.-Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd), said the expertise of each individual on the panel was sufficient to help them fulfil the objectives of setting up the panel.

“We shall work hard to make you proud not least, for the confidence reposed on us,” he said.