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Operators of Point of Sale terminals and Lagos-based human rights attorney Femi Falana have threatened legal action against the Central Bank of Nigeria if the policy limiting over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals and businesses to N100,000 and N500,000, respectively, per week remains in place.
Third-party cheques for more than N50,000 would no longer be eligible for OTC payment, according to the CBN’s memo establishing the policy, but current clearing cheque limits of N10m would still apply.
The circular further instructed banks to limit ATM withdrawals to N20,000 per day and to only load N200 and smaller denominations into their machines. Additionally, PoS terminal withdrawals were restricted to N20,000 per day.
The CBN emphasized last Wednesday that PoS operators might request exceptions from the rule, which will go into effect on January 9, 2023.
Falana, however, referred to the CBN’s new cash withdrawal limit regulation as unlawful on Monday.
He declared that he would proceed with suing the apex bank if its administration did not reverse the new policy.
Falana urged President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.) to order the central bank to remove the “illegal guideline” in a statement titled, “Maximum withdrawal limit in Nigeria is N5m.”
It is disgraceful, in his words, that the Central Bank of Nigeria has been issuing statements without taking the Constitution or other important legislation pertaining to the national economy into account. The fact that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria allegedly restricted cash withdrawals in Nigeria in direct violation of section 2 of the Money Laundering Act of 2022, which states the following:
“No person or body corporate shall make or accept cash payment of a sum exceeding (a)5,000,000 or its equivalent, in the case of an individual; (b)N10,000,000 or its equal, in the case of a body corporate, unless through a transaction via a financial institution.
“A person may not engage in more than one transaction with a financial institution or with a designated non-financial business or profession with the intent to (a) evade the requirement to report a transaction required by this Act, or (b) violate the requirement to disclose information under this Act by any other means.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s cap on cash withdrawals of N20,000 per day and N100,000 per week is illegal, null, and void in every material respect because the Money Laundering Act 2022 (which set the maximum cash withdrawal at N5 million) has not been modified. We implore Nigerians to disregard the unlawful announcement.
“However, we are constrained to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the management of the CBN to rescind the unconstitutional directive and cease announcing new policies that are intended to condemn poor Nigerians to further agonizing economic misery.”
Vincent Paul
Comment here