NFIU warns against huge cash withdrawals, says govts collected N476bn cash in 7 years

The Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has warned the public and private entities in the country against huge cash withdrawals.

The NFIU Director and Chief Executive Officer, Modibbo HammanTukur, gave the warning in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday.

HammanTukur advised all federal Ministries, Departments, parastatal Agencies (MDAs), state governments, local government councils, corporate bodies, and civil servants to embrace the cashless policy of money transactions to deepen national security.

He said this would help to strengthen the country’s security and financial systems.

The NFIU boss stated that the federal and state governments as well as the 774 local government councils have made cash withdrawals of about N200 billion, N156 billion and N120 billion, respectively, from 2015 to date.

“To curb this excesses, the Federal Government has directed and ordered the stoppage of direct cash withdrawals by public institutions and officers with effect from March 1, 2023,” HammanTukur stated.

He, however, advised all stakeholders to adopt new technologies of financial transactions and abide by the withdrawal limits or thresholds prescribed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for corporate and individual transactions.

It would be recalled that the CBN, in December 2022, prescribed a threshold of N5 million only for corporate accounts and N500,000 only for individuals per week.

HammanTukur, however, noted that no infractions have been recorded so far, saying cash withdrawals were still higher than deposits.

“Liquidity is needed to finance our markets”, he noted, adding that there is no threat to the corruption and money laundering crusade yet.

The NFIU director further assured that anyone with genuine need for huge cash transactions would seek presidential approval as there was no “standing waiver” on this policy.

While warning that the “guideline is not reversible”, he stressed that any cash withdrawal beyond the approved limit would trigger a red flag by the relevant anti-graft agencies.

He stated that Nigeria has been designated as a non-cash society by the World Bank, IMF and ECOWAS, among other stakeholders, with effect from March 1.

“This is in addition to the categorisation of Nigeria as a high risk country by the concerned parties because of the enormous security challenges facing the nation.

“We can’t flow with politicians because of obvious complications, while the set March 1 deadline was sacrosanct,” HammanTukur said.

He, however, expressed optimism that the cash transactions would drop from the current N3 trillion to about N1 trillion when the policy becomes effective.

The Star

Segun Ojo