CBN sensitizes Onitsha traders on cashless policy

Traders in Onitsha Main Market were on Tuesday tutored by the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) on the bank’s cashless policy which took effect in Anambra State on 1st October.

Stakeholders in the market drawn from its leadership and other big traders who gathered at the Onitsha Main Market Traders Union, OMMATU, hall to listen to officials of the bank on the cashless policy also took time to demand clarification on gray areas, while pledging commitment to the policy.

Speaking to the traders, Mr Raymond Chetuya, the cashless champion in Awka branch of the CBN told the traders that from today, (Tuesday), any cash deposit into individual bank account in excess of N500, 000 would attract a 2 percent charge, while corporate account would be charged at 3 percent for any amount in excess of N3 million.

He also said that withdrawals in excess of N500,000 from individual account would be charged 3 percent while 5 percent would be charged on corporate accounts that exceed N3 million.

The charges, he said, would motivate the traders not to accept cash from their customers but rather demand to be paid electronically for goods worth more that N500,000.

Chetuya told the traders that cashless policy of the CBN did not mean that there would no longer be cash in the system, rather it would reduce the volume of money in circulation and also help aide the Nigeria’s aspiration to be among the 20 strongest economy in the world by the year 2020.

“We have been carrying money around in Ghana-must-go bags for too long, so the policy is meant to provide alternative method of payment and settlement for the country.

“The cashless policy is not meant to be a disadvantage to you, rather it is meant to be an advantage to traders.

“With the policy, the incidences of theft in the market will reduce. If a robber comes to you, you will simply surrender your card to him, and he will not be able to do anything with it. We know that it may seem hard for you as it starts today, but we are hopeful that with time, you will be used to it”.

Listing the advantages inherent in electronic transaction, Chetuya reminded the traders that no charge whatsoever was expected in the electronic transactions, just as any kind of phone could be used in making the transaction.

He said that literacy level would not also be a hindrance as everyone who could make phone calls with their phones could also transfer money.

Reacting, the chairman of Onitsha Main Market Traders Union, OMMATU, Chief Innocent Agudiegwu thanked the bank officials for coming to lecture them on the new policy.

He called on them to make steady visits to the market to speak with traders until they were fully in tune with the policy.

It would be recalled that the apex bank had announced Anambra as among the six states to partake in the second phase of its cashless policy, after Lagos was used as a test run.

Other states include Rivers, Abia, Kano, Ogun and Abuja.