The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki on Monday declared that the federal government’s policy of moving the nation’s economy to a cashless system should be supported by Nigerians, describing it as “the best for our banking system”.
Obaseki made the declaration 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 lasting solutions to naira notes scarcity.
According to him, “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 also said that Nigerians should know that they have other means through which they can still make payments they want to make without necessarily going to the banks to go and collect cash for business transactions.
“Most people who have bank accounts and have android phones don’t need to go to the banks to collect cash, from their phone they can make whatever payment they want to make. Others with less sophisticated phones can still make payments with the USSD code given to them by their banks to pay for transactions.
“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”, he said.
Obaseki however charged Nigerians to move away from holding much cash at hand because there are other means now payment can be made without necessarily going to the banks to collect cash.
He said his administration will 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.
On his part, Blaise Ijebor, CBN Director said he was in Benin to encourage people to use alternative means to make payment for business transactions as CBN want 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 one or two days”,
“We have asked 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 N5000 or N10,000, use that to manage for the next day or two. We are going to make supply available.
The CBN Director also disclosed that they have set up a monitoring team to visit various banks to monitor compliance, adding that they are working with the EFCC and ICPC to check defaulting banks.
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