Abuja
– The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it will start applying charges
on withdrawals and deposits above N500,000 for individuals and N2
million for corporate bodies from Oct. 2.
Mr Tunde Lemo,
Deputy Governor, Operations, said this in Abuja on Friday while briefing
newsmen at the end of the Special Forum on Financing the Power Sector
Reforms for Economic Development.
He said that the action would ensure effective implementation of the cashless policy.
HEWETT BENSON AND SANUSI LAMIDO
The
CBN had given a three-month moratorium for the full implementation of
charges to customers who withdraw or deposit money higher that what was
stipulated in the Cashless policy document.
“We will start
applying the charges from the second of October which is Wednesday
because the three months moratorium would have expired.
“We are
glad to announced that having worked with stakeholders, we’ve been able
to ramp up facilities in Abuja and five other locations and then we are
set to build up the critical mass requirement in the cashless in those
areas.’’
Lemo said that from Oct. 2, any customer that deposited
above N500, 000 per day would be charged two per cent payment on it
while withdrawal would attract three per cent charge.
“For
corporate, the threshold is N2 million, if you deposit or withdraw any
money above the threshold per day, if it is deposit, it will attract
three per cent charges and if it is withdrawal it attracts five per
cent.
“Those are the charges that are already applicable in Lagos area that we are now bringing to this location.’’
He
said that customers needed not to pass through the onerous task of
depositing and withdrawal over the counter but advised the use of
electronic fund transfer.
He said that electronic payment in Lagos accounted for 70 per cent to 80 per cent of high value transactions on daily basis.
Lemo
said that the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) driven by Nigerian Inter Bank
Settlement System (NIBSS), together accounted for three times the
volume of cheques used in transactions.
On Connectivity of Point
of Sales (POS) and efficiency of Automated Teller Machines (ATM), he
said that the apex bank was working with the Telecoms to expand the
bandwidth for service delivery.
“Now, we are also working with other service providers to provide the roaming facility.
“What
will happen is that if you have a POS that is linked with MTN, if MTN
is not working, it can then roam to hit other service provider and then
settlement will be done at the end of the day.
“We are going to see a lot better connectivity in the next couple of weeks in those areas.’’
He
said that POS availability had been increased in Abuja and five other
locations by five folds between January and September with the available
statistics.
Lemo said that before the introduction of the
cashless policy in Nigeria, only two per cent of retail transactions
were done electronically, but noted that in one year, it had gone up to
20 per cent.(NAN)