Civil society organizations (CSOs), including the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) and the Coalition of National Civil Society Organisations (CNCSOS), have backed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the cash withdrawal limit policy, saying it has a lot of advantages than disadvantage.
At a world press conference on Monday in Abuja, the National Convener of Coalition of National Civil Society Organisations (CNCSOs), Chief Willy Ezugwu, said that President Muhammadu Buhari should be commended for endorsing the ongoing transition from cash-based economy to a cash-less Nigerian society, revealing that Nigerians will be mobilised to vehemently resist plots to abort it in coming days.”
He said: “Since the policy was made public, many Nigerians have shared divergent opinions on the development, but as civil society organisations, there is need to properly interrogate the policy and draw some lines. The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) had in a recent press release taken a position on the new policy. However, it becamesary, in the national interest, to go deeper into the entire cash-less policy of the federal government since its inception due to misconceptions and misunderstanding of the recent development.
“Despite the efforts of the management of the CBN, led by Godwin Emefiele, who secured the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari for the redesign of Nigeria’s banknotes, many citizens, especially politicians, have continued to criticize the cash-less policy implementation.
“A good observer can easily identify three categories of people who are critical of the cash withdrawal limits introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). They are those who are totally ignorant of what the policy is about, those who misunderstood the policy and thought that cash withdrawal limit is the same as digital transaction limits, and those who, for political advantage, distort information about the policy in order to score cheap political points to further their corrupt and anti-people agenda.
“Among the third category of people are mostly politicians who have concealed huge sums of money in their bedrooms and farms for election rigging and for vote buying.
“We commend President Muhammadu Buhari for standing with the CBN management and for endorsing the ongoing transition from cash-based economy to a cash-less Nigerian society. A full cash-less economy will be the best anti-corruption legacy of the President Buhari administration and Nigerians will be mobilised to vehemently resist plots to abort it in coming days.”