The House of Representatives on Thursday urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to implement the cashless policy in phases.
The cashless policy was first introduced in Lagos last year before the CBN extended the policy.
Adopting the resolution of a motion moved by Yakubu Dogara (PDP-Bauchi) and 38 other members over the issue, the House urged the apex bank to remove the charges or limits on daily cumulative withdrawals and deposits to encourage small businesses. It called on the CBN and commercial banks in the country to, instead, take the security of customers’ transactions seriously in order to beat raging cases fraud.
Leading the debate, Hon. Dogara argued that the policy could save costs in the financial sector but did not imply real sector growth. According to him, the majority of retail and commercial payments are made in cash from a large percentage of the population who do not operate bank accounts.
He noted that the CBN has not achieved the needed 40 per cent expansion of Automated Teller Machines (ATM). He argued that financial infrastructure in the country is grossly inadequate to meet the demands of a cashless society.
He also argued that low literacy level and absence of constant power supply would discourage Nigerians from embracing the policy.
His colleague, Hon. Aisha Ahmed said Nigerians have, in various occasions, been defrauded of huge sums through electronic transactions.
Similarly, Hon. Albert Sam-Tsokwa from Taraba, while supporting the motion, lauded the policy but said it was premature to introduce it to the society. He argued that most communities in the country lack banking facilities that were designed to implement the policy.
Hon. Emmanuel Jime from Benue also argued that every new policy would normally come with challenges. According to him, Nigerians are often afraid of innovations.
He was supported by Hon. Peter Akpatason from Edo State who argued that if the policy was truncated, activities of money launderers and sponsors of criminals would increase. He urged his colleagues to look more at the advantages than the disadvantages.
