House of Representatives on Tuesday called for immediate review of the foreign exchange (FX) and cashless policies initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The lawmakers, who gave the charge during the debate on the motion titled: ‘Call to investigate the implementation of the cashless policy to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians,’ sponsored by Edward Pwajok, stressed the need for government to ensure that the economic policies aid legitimate business transactions globally.
The cashless policy introduced by the CBN was aimed at reducing cash transactions and encourage electronic means of payment for goods and services.
In his lead debate, Pwajok, who applauded the initiative, noted that the policy was meant to check corruption, stop terrorism financing, reduce inflation, circulation of cash, financial crimes and armed robbery by tracking the trails of money and reducing the huge costs of printing money, and huge security risk of handling cash.
To ensure successful implementation of the cashless policy, the lawmaker underscored the efforts of the apex bank on enlightenment and sensitisation of all segments of the population and the ample time given to financial institutions and businesses to acquire the non-cash platforms like Point of Sale (PoS) machines and internet funds transfer facilities to support the policy before its implementation.
He however observed that the objectives for which the CBN introduced the policy were not being adhered to by both the public and financial institutions empower to checkmate transactions to or from countries.
He said the policy was partially successful in few cities because there seemed to be no measures in place to compel adherence.
Following the adoption of the motion, the House urged to examine the level of compliance with the country’s cashless policy by government agencies and business outfits.
He argued that “the policy is only successful in a few citizens, as many supermarkets, shops, hotels not only still transact business in cash, but out rightly inform customers that they accept only cash, given that there seems to be no measures in place to compel adherence to the policy.
“The installation of ATM machines within the premises of supermarkets, shops, hotels to enable citizens withdraw cash to transact businesses is not only counterproductive to the cashless policy but actually undermines it.”
Rather, he noted that Nigerians were practically compelled to withdraw huge amounts of cash, which incurs higher charges and the attendant risks, including exposure to armed robbery, being short-changed of the amounts collected and failure of many of the ATMs to dispense cash, thus bringing hardship to people.
While stressing the need for the intervention of the House, Pwajok called for an increase in the online transactions in the country from $300 to $500 as well as PoS transactions from $1,000 to $5,000.
The House, therefore, mandated its Committee on Banking and Currency chaired by Jones Onyereri, to examine the level of compliance with the policy by business outfits and government agencies and explore ways to ensure that facilities were put in place to enable smooth operations of the cashless policy.
The Committee is also expected to cause a review of the policy to suit the current challenges facing the implementation and report back within eight weeks.
