The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents of Nigeria (AMMBAN), which represents point-of-sale (PoS) operators across the nation, made a request to President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday to persuade the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase the current cap on daily cash withdrawals.
According to the CBN’s new regulation, weekly cash withdrawals for individuals are limited to N100,000 and for corporations to N500,000.
In a statement to the media on behalf of the group, Mr. Victor Olojo, National President of AMMBAN, warned that if the policy was not revised in a positive direction, over 1.4 million people would lose their jobs.
The group proposed an increase in the maximum withdrawal limit to N500,000 weekly for individuals and N3 million for business organizations in a letter to Buhari dated December 16.
It was further stated that there would be more interactions with important stakeholders.
At the press conference, Olojo stated: “AMMBAN thinks that the cashless policy as it is currently written has not effectively supported Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria.
“Even though the CBN governor mentioned that Mobile Money and Bank Agents are dispersed around the nation as one of the reasons why he strongly believes the country is ready for the cashless policy, the document currently in effect threatens the employment of more than 1.4 million agents.
“The association decided to involve the CBN, the National Assembly, and other pertinent stakeholders for these and many other pertinent reasons.
“This is to guarantee that, while we support the government’s cashless strategy through the CBN, the policy should recognize the categorization of agents’ accounts in the same way that it does for individuals and corporate organizations.”
The group said that it had discussions about the issue with Senator Uba Sani, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions, and Hon. Victor Nwokolo, the senator’s equivalent in the House of Representatives.
“They were all in agreement that there needs to be categorization of the accounts to be able to serve the Nigerian people, especially in areas where there are no banks or basic infrastructure to enhance the usage of alternative channels of transaction, given the high relevance Mobile Money and Bank Agents have in the successful implementation of the cashless policy,” he said.
It is important to highlight that AMMBAN and her members have consistently led the way in assuring the accomplishment of the desired outcomes ever since the financial inclusion drive’s beginning.
“They were all in agreement that there needs to be categorization of the accounts to be able to serve the Nigerian people, especially in areas where there are no banks or basic infrastructure to enhance the usage of alternative channels of transaction, given the high relevance Mobile Money and Bank Agents have in the successful implementation of the cashless policy,” he said.
It is important to highlight that AMMBAN and her members have consistently led the way in assuring the accomplishment of the desired outcomes ever since the financial inclusion drive’s beginning.
