General

CBN still thinks we are in military era, Joe Abah reacts to new charges on cash transactions

Published

September 18, 2019

The former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reform, Dr Joe Abah has criticised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for not sensitising the populace before announcing the enforcement of the newly-introduced charges on cash transactions.

Abah took to his verified Twitter handle @DrJoeAbah on Wednesday to react to reports that the apex would from today (Wednesday) commence the imposition of charges on deposits in addition to already existing charges on withdrawals.

He likened the CBN’s directive to a decision that could only be taken under a military government.

Abah tweeted:

Our Central Bank still thinks we are in the military era. If, for whatever reason, you are going to introduce charges for deposits, will you just issue a circular? No explanation? No justification? No sensitisation? You just issue a circular and call it cashless policy? Na waa o.

— Dr. Joe Abah (@DrJoeAbah) September 18, 2019

CBN, in a circular to all Deposit Money Banks in the country, on Tuesday, had said that the implementation of the cashless policy will begin nationwide from March 2020.

It said that implementation of the policy would signal the imposition of charges on deposits in addition to already existing charges on withdrawals.

According to the circular, the charges, which take effect from Wednesday (today) will attract three per cent processing fees for withdrawals and two per cent processing fees for lodgments of amounts above N500, 000 for individual accounts.

For corporate accounts, the apex bank in the circular said that DMBs would charge five per cent processing fees for withdrawals and three per cent processing fee for lodgments of amounts above N3,000, 000.

The statement, however, disclosed that the charge on deposits would apply in Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Abia, Anambra, and Rivers States as well as the Federal Capital Territory.