The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new cash withdrawal limit has been criticized by human rights lawyer Femi Falana, who called it “illegal, null, and void.”
Falana, claimed in a statement on Monday that the recent action by the CBN was embarrassing” and against the law of the land.
“Since the Money Laundering Act 2022 (which has fixed maximum cash withdrawal to N5 million) has not been amended the limitation of cash withdrawal of not more than N20,000 per day and N100,000 per week fixed by the Central Bank of Nigeria is illegal, null and void in every material. We urge the Nigerian people to ignore the illegal announcement,” the lawyer said.
“However, we are compelled to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the management of the CBN to withdraw the illegal guideline and stop announcing more policies that are designed to sentence poor citizens to more excruciating economic hardship.”
The CBN had directed other financial institutions and Deposit Money Banks (DMOs) to make sure that weekly over-the-counter (OTC) cash withdrawals by both private individuals and corporate entities did not exceed N100,000 and N500,000, respectively.
The daily maximum withdrawals from point of sale (PoS) terminals were also set at N20,000 by the CBN. The change will go into effect on January 9, 2023, according to the apex bank.
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