Suyi Ayodele
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Monday threw his weight behind the cashless policy of the Federal Government, urging all Nigerians to support the policy, which he described as the best for “our banking system”.
Governor Obaseki said this in Benin while speaking with journalists shortly after a closed-door meeting with the officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Senior Management of Banks in the state on ways of finding solutions to naira notes scarcity.
“Edo state government has no problem with the policy of the federal government to move our economy into a cashless economy. The policy should be encouraged, it is the best for our banking system”
“However, we want to ensure that we do this as painlessly and as seamlessly as possible, improve on communication with our people so that we can reduce their fears because when people go to the banks to collect cash, they want to spend it on something”.
Obaseki reminded Nigerians of the other means through which they could still use to make the payments they “want to make without necessarily going to the banks to go and collect cash for the business transaction”.
“Most people who have bank accounts and have android phones don’t need to go to the banks to collect cash. From their phones, they can make whatever payment they want to make. Others with less sophisticated phones can still make payment with the USSD code given to them by their banks to pay for the transaction”.
He added, “there are also companies that offer electronic wallets service registered by the CBN, We also have POS terminals that have been licensed to operate, through which the people can also make payment”.
Obaseki charged Nigerians to move away from holding much cash at hand because “there are other means now payment be made without necessarily going to the banks to collect cash”.
He said his administration would join hands with the CBN and the banker committee in the state to monitor the situation and resolve the problems, adding that the meeting was called due to his concern over the hardship on the people.
At his party, Blaise Ijebor, CBN Director said he was in Benin to encourage people to use alternative means to make payment for business transactions as CBN wanted to drive a cash-light environment for the benefit of all.
“You can use your ATM card, bank APP or USSD code to make payment. So, use alternative means as much as possible but we are going to make sure that there is cash supply within the next day or two”,
“We have asked the banks to pay up to N20,000 but because of the crowd, some banks might not be able to pay N20,000 at once. So, if they can pay you N5,000 or N10,000, use that to manage for the next day or two. We are going to make supply available.
He said the Apex bank had set up a monitoring team to visit various banks to monitor compliance, adding that the CBN had working arrangements with the EFCC and ICPC on defaulting banks.
