Banks dey sabotage CBN cashless policy?

E all start wit 31 January deadline wey di Central Bank of Nigeria set for Nigerians to return dia old 1000, 500 and 200 naira notes to banks, den dem announce 10-days extension to 10 February, den scarcity of di new notes come follow.

Dis scarcity of both old and di newly redesigned notes don make some Nigerians dey wonder if di kontri truly dey ready to operate cashless policy?

Di scarcity of di naira notes for Nigeria don turn additional level of hardship for citizens of di most populated kontri for Africa.

Na common tin now to see very long queues for front of banks and automated teller machines as pipo dey try withdraw cash, weda old or new notes.

Videos of pipo wey dey fight as dem dey try get access to ATM or even inside banking halls don circulate for social media. Dis na unusual situation for Nigeria and for citizens.

Inside all di confusion pipo dey wey dey allegedly spend di new naira any anyhow.

Videos don go viral of politicians wey dey share di new notes give dia supporters and family members wey dey show-off di redesigned notes wey dem collect as “gifts” - e also get pipo wey dey sell di new notes for parties wia guests dey spray di cash.

Na dis situation and di scarcity make Central Bank of Nigeria govnor, Godwin Emefiele allege say banks dey hoard di new notes.

E tok on Tuesday wen e appear before di House of Representatives ad-Hoc Committee wey dey torchlight di implementation of di new naira note.

On di same Tuesday, local tori pipo report news of one senior official of CBN wey say dem catch some commercial bank officials for one of di south western states wey mismanage di new notes.

Di Deputy Director, Banking Supervision Department, CBN Lagos, Kayode Makinde, say, “we see as some pipo dey try to hoard new notes.”

“We come across instances of sabotage on di part of di operators,” Makinde tok. BBC no fit independently verify wetin Makinde tok.

But despite say agencies like di Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission don make arrests of those wey dey 'hoard' di naira, di currency still dey scarce.

And as many ATMs across di kontri also no dey dispense cash e don make pipo begin wonder if Nigerian banks dey sabotage di policies by CBN?

'Cashless policy na to di advantage of banks'

Banks dey for di centre of di cash scarcity palava as di CBN accuse dem of sabotaging di cashless policy.

On dia part, bank no see any reason why dem go sabotage cashless policy becos di policy "na to dia own advantage".

Tok tok pesin for one of di top banks for Nigeria tell BBC say, banks na big beneficiaries of di cashless policy.

"You go remove di cost of handling cash, cost of transporting cash na really expensive business for banks, very expensive."

Also to keep cash, banks dey pay insurance premium for dia vault per branch.

"No forget say banks dey pay insurance premium for dia vaults per branch depending on how much cash dem dey hold," she say.

She add say cash na non-earning asset - meaning say e no dey make any profit if dem keep am.

But dis banks no see wetin dey happun as scarcity per se, but say na pipo neva adjust to di reality say less money dey in circulation now as di kontri dey go cashless.

Dem dey see am as di consequence of gathering old notes to replace am wit new ones wey no plenty reach di old one.

Our source say: “I believe say wetin pipo dey call scarcity na di natural consequence of mopping di old putting di new in a way wey you no dey put am at di same level as di old.

For example, make we say one trillion dey circulate and di system look am say, we no need one trillion in circulation, we go mop up di one trillion in circulation and den wen we put di new note, we go only put five hundred billion. Dat na wetin pipo dey call scarcity.

“If you look di whole tin well, change don occur in how much cash go dey dey available, so pipo just need to move to di e-channel. Dat na di reality. So na how much we go fit to get businesses and pipo to move to di e-channel na all we all need to adjust to.”

As tins dey now, Nigerians no go eva get to see di kain amount of cash wey bin dey get access to before again, she tok.

Nigeria dey ready for cashless policy?

Nigeria dey move from cash to cashless society, process wey di CBN bin first introduce to im kontri pipo for October 2022 wit di announcement say e go redesign di three biggest currency notes for di kontri wey be – N200, N500, N1000.

Ever since di announcement di cashless policy, Nigerians don dey wan resist am - from POS agents wey dey make a living from providing cash to pipo wey need cash but no wan go bank for dia community.

Di policy get di hardest resistance from politicians wey dey di heart of di elections season and need cash for alleged vote buying plus oda transactions wey dem no want traced to demsef, dis na wetin stakeholders dey tok.

Dis last group dey see di new policy as direct attack on dem.

On Wednesday, Kaduna state govnor, Nasir el-Rufai, for interview wey e grant Channels Television, say di timing of di new policy go make di APC weak ahead of di forthcoming elections.

“Na very good intention - very clear intention. Di president heart na white. But to do am dis time within di time wey dem give no make any political or economic sense. And for dis kind programme to work, we gatz dey involved as govnors, at sub nationals.

"For my state, e get two local goments without banks. For Borno State, out of 27 local goments, only two get banks. For Yobe State, out of 17 local goments, only two get banks,” Govnor El-Rufai tok.

Wetin be cashless policy?

To operate cashless policy mean say di Central Bank dey discourage di use of raw cash for transactions.

But di policy dey encourage di use of bank transfer, ATM card, POS, and other financial instruments to transfer cash electronically.

For Nigeria, dis policy don dey in place for about seven years now but dis na di first time wey Nigeria highest bank go fully make di system cashless.