CASH WITHDRAWAL POLICY: REPS POSTPONE EMEFIELE’S APPEARANCE TO TUESDAY

The presence of Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele has been rescheduled by the House of Representatives.

After receiving a letter from Mr. Emefiele advising the House of his unavailability, the parliamentarians postponed Mr. Emefiele’s presence for Thursday.

Today, Mr. Emefiele was scheduled to inform the lawmakers on the contentious cash withdrawal restriction, a new rule that the bank imposed in November.

The CBN governor notified the legislators in a letter to the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Thursday that he is traveling with President Muhammadu Buhari to Washington, DC.

A different day to attend the US-Africa Summit was sought in a letter written by the Deputy Governor for Corporate Services, Edward Adamu, and read by the Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase.

“We refer to your request that Mr. Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, update the House of Representatives on the bank’s most current policies on December 15, 2022.

“We humbly inform you that the CBN Governor is a member of H.E. President Muhammadu Buhari’s delegation, which is currently in Washington, D.C. for the USA Africa Summit.

So, on Thursday, December 15, 2022, the Governor will be unable to accept your invitation.

The letter stated that even though the governor regretted that he couldn’t personally attend the scheduled briefing because of the aforementioned national assignment, he “will be available to offer the briefing at the earliest moment practicable.”

Request to cite CBN

After Aliyu Magaji (APC Jigawa) presented a motion on an issue of urgent public significance on Thursday during plenary, the lawmakers summoned Mr. Emefiele last week.

The apex bank instructed all banks and other financial institutions to make sure that over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals and corporate entities do not exceed N100,000 and N500,000, respectively, every week, in a memo signed by the Director of Banking Supervision, Haruna Mustafa.

In the latest development, the CBN ordered that only notes of N200 or less should be inserted into bank ATMs.

The MPs decided that the CBN should pause the policy’s implementation until the investigation is finished.

The session’s moderator, the deputy speaker, declared that Mr. Emefiele must appear before the House on Tuesday.