CBN takes Cashless Policy to FCT, Kano, Anambra, Abia, Rivers and Ogun

This was announced yesterday after the Bankers’ Committee meeting at the CBN headquarters in Abuja.

Speaking at after the meeting, Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said the states include, Ogun, Kano, Abia, Anambra, and Rivers.

The cashless policy which is aimed at reducing the amount of money in circulation has already been implemented in Lagos State.

Sanusi, represented by the Acting Director Banking Supervision, Fakunle Benjamin Adeoye, said the choice of the five states was as a result of the volume of currency in circulation.

“The next level we are moving is from cashless Lagos to cashless Nigeria…Once we got it right in these states ..we would not have problem in the rest of the states,” said Adeoye.

He said with the new policy, Nigerians will now be encouraged to use more ATM, Point of Sales and other terminals to transact day to day business.

Meanwhile, indications emerged yesterday that scarcity of Point of Sales (PoS) terminals may hamper the progress of  the cashless economy being driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The scarcity of the terminals is a result of the fact that the number of registered merchants, who are currently yearning for PoS devices, outweighs the number of the devices that have been deployed in the country so far. Mr.Chris Ife, the MD,

Globasure Technologies Limited gathered that the number of PoS deployed and connected to the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System, NIBSS’s, Central Terminal Management System stood at 117,412 as at April 2013, while registered merchants queuing for PoS devices was 184,182 the same period.

 But the CBN and the members of the Bankers Committee yesterday said all the challenges identified in Lagos would be addressed before moving to other states.

Although no date has been slated for the enrollment, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank, Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, told Globasue News updates that the committee will soon announce the date for the take off.