CBN spends N114b yearly on currency, says Lemo

By Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

The Nation, Friday, August 1, 2013

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spends N114 billion annually on printing, moving, sorting and destruction of bad currency notes, its Deputy Governor, Operations, Tunde Lemo said.

Lemo, who spoke in Umuahia, Abia State, while sensitising the public on the need to embrace the cash-less policy, said the rising cost of cash management confirms the need for implementation of the initiative in the country.

The cash-less policy he said, would help in developing the economy and attracting foreign investors, stressing that the program has been beneficial to the economy.

Lemo said the cash-less policy has assisted Lagos and Ogun states in growing their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) , stressing that these states are ripping the benefits of the initiative.

He said that Lagos state’s internally generated revenue is currently at N29 billion annually with the expectation that it will rise to N50 billion in the next few years. He added that Abia State has the opportunity of achieving the same result when it keys into the policy.

Lemo explained that the policy was introduced to reduce the cash being carried by people in transacting their daily business, adding that a society that does business based on cash will attract corruption and other criminal activities such as kidnapping.

He recalled that the issue of cash-less society started way back in 2004 when the money Laundering Act was enacted. The Act said that transaction on individual bases, which is above N500, 000 and N2 million for corporate bodies should be reported to the fraud control bodies.

The deputy governor of CBN said that the Point of Sell (PoS), which are 2044 in the state, would be increased to about 104,000 in the next few years, stressing that it is one of the ways to help in the reduction of cash flow in the economy.

He explained that the PoS is the point where people use the cards, which are loaded with funds to pay for whatever they would have bought instead of carrying cash. He therefore urged Abia state government to help the CBN to sensitise the society on the need for the people to stop the use of cash in their daily business transactions.

Responding the state governor, Chief Theodore Orji assured the CBN that they will do everything for the state to key into the cashless policy and directed the chairman of the state Board of Internal Revenue to liaise with the officials of the CBN to have a lecture on how the policy works with view to increasing the IGR of the state.

Orji, who was represented by his deputy, Emeka Ananaba, urged the CBN to put into consideration the poor in the state, stressing that many of them are still illiterate and may not know the way the policy operates, if they are not properly educated.