 The new CBN cashless policy taking a critical look at their effects. In the last few weeks, the Central Bank of Nigeria has shown how to do new physical policies that will help the effects on the nation and its populace. One is to redesign three major dominations of the NERA notes, namely 200, 500 and 1000 NERA notes respectively. The recent one is to foster cashless policy by introducing limits on cash to receive over the counter, ATM points and POS terminals. Why it is the prerogative of the governing body to formulate policies and chart a better physical path for the country to follow for its economic stability and prosperity. It is expected that such policy must not be draconian and such should have a human face. In the support of the NERA redesigning, the central bank governor and other senior officers of the apex bank gave disturbing figures of the money in circulation to be 3.2 trillion NERA out of which 2.7 trillion NERA which accounts for more than 80% is house side the bank votes. This is unacceptable and as necessitates the move to redesign and request that old notes of the affected dominations return back to the bank votes. Ensuring that the currencies don't get withdrawn house side the banking system again, the CBN then introduce the new policy on cash limits. Why it is also understood, it has to be noted that the major parameters upon which this new cash limit policy will stand have not been carefully catered for. In the words of the CBN governor, the cashless policy has been in place since 2011 or thereabouts and with the figures of electronic transaction available for last year amounted to 6.1 trillion NERA which has already surpassed this year. Nigeria is ready to go cashless. However, what it has failed to understand is that the drivers which are mobile money and bank agents of this very figure, it probably gave who are in the essence of over 1.4 million were not catered for in the policy as it is presently formulated. The policy recognized individual and corporate accounts and clearly stated how much cash will be available to them daily and weekly respectively will fail to provide for the limit for POS agents. The policy hasn't taken notes of over 1.4 million Nigerians who survive as retail meaning banks, which we can also call them as an agent. It has also not addressed the use of POS as a means to receive payments for goods and services at stores and the likes due to the current POS withdrawal limit of 20,000 NERA daily. In the same vein, the policy needs to be reviewed to accommodate POS agents on how they will be able to get cash for their daily operations and also possible review of limits to gradually process cashless policy adoption working with the current reality has. The policy will be pushing over 1.4 million Nigerians into the unemployment market again. Also, issue resolution should also be given a top priority while bank staff should rise to their expected responsibility. Cashless policy are good for economic goals. Victor, what do you think? In the last how many years now can we really begin to implement it like ASAP? What are the things we need to put in place right to really really drive this cashless policy? I don't think like the current CBN governor has done like a very fantastic work to be able to drive that. I'm not saying that these things are easy, right? You know when they say it's easier said than done, but there has to be cashless policy is not something that is new. It's not something that nobody has ever done before. It's not something that no economy has done. And when you think about that and everything, you want to look at it from the angle of who are the people that have engineered this cashless policy and how essentially have they done it? I mean success is just basically less copy. So what is working for other economies? Let's copy it. Let's do it. So Hussein, I pretty much think that it's something we've overflogged. Can we just get started on it already? Do we take away all of the because behind implementing any policy, there's always self-centeredness and who is it going to affect? What's the name for me? How is it going to affect my own interests, right? And everybody is just seeking out for their own interest. And whereas the biggest interest we should be looking out for is the interest of the people who are serving. So that brings me back to once we don't understand that this is a service to the nation, to the people. Then we know what to do to really drive cashless economy or cashless policy, right? But are we doing it? So this like an open message to the CBN governor and to those that work out from there. Can we begin to do what we know to do and put the interest of the highest office, which is the office of the citizens? Okay, thank you. Before I comment, I want to say one or two things on this thought so I can say. Yeah, thank you very much Huzain. You know, this cashless policy, you know, I think it's really of interest. But see, just like what Victor said, it should be whatever we do. We should try to have the, I mean our leaders should have the mindset of making things life easy for citizens. It's a good thing, it's a welcome development. This is what has been done in advance to track data spending, economic processes. Now if you check what happens recently, I think as of yesterday or this week, some senior government officials in Europe have been arrested over alleged corruption strategies. They found over 1.2 million euro stashed in a suitcase in their office in Europe. 1.2 million euros were in Nigeria, you know, I don't want to say something negative, but you know that money is small compared to what people hold illegally. Now, it's a good thing in the 90s where, in the 90s where you have banks not really electronically operated, those manual banking. People prefer to carry gala must go from Monitia to Lagos, from Lagos to Kano to come and buy goods. And what happens on the way there is always constant robbery, the year of those robberies. Since the advent of internet technology and similar transactions, robbery has drastically reduced. Yeah, it happens, but once in a while, people don't carry huge funds around. You can just come to Lagos and do whatever you want to do, buy your goods and go. So if the government can pursue this cashless policy very well, I think it's going to have a way of reducing corruption. People holding cash, government officials having access to excess cash for their selfish gain, money made for projects. Or people involving illegal criminalities like robberies, kidnapping. Kidnappers don't demand money so their bank account will ask you to bring 100 million era cash to come and give them right. When they know that you cannot get access to 100 million, I think kidnapping will stop. But while we see the positives of it, they are drivers just like you said. POS and other things for the unbanked people. The truth of the matter is, if you go to rural environment, I don't think the cash volume, even though there are many, but the cash volume individuals transit in a week might not be up to that amount threshold, 20,000 era. But they still need these POS to make work easy for them, for the unbanked people, other financial agents. So that's where when the government also regulates. They can regulate that, also monitor them. And also the other issue of making the processes seamless, the technology involved, how seamless can bank transaction take place. If a bank error happens in transacting, it's going to reflect. Sometimes it takes up to 70 days for money to reflect back to your account. Can they make the process shorter? And also can the CBN reduce transaction costs? These are the things we are talking about. Thank you so much, Elijah and Victor. I want to take a little bit back because Victor's concern has been how this policy is going to be very easy and accommodating to the populace. This CBN policy, just like I just summarized, has been in place since 2010, there has been a test so on 2011. Then 2012 there was some bodies that were licensed to carry out these transactions. Now, it started from Wallace system. It was late 2017 where POS came into play to faster because you need to have a tool to ensure that everything works on your hand and to also foster interoperability between banks and the bank-led solutions and FinTech-led solutions. Again, just like Elijah highlighted, saying this policy will help us to be more accountable like the politicians, hoarding of money will be reduced and also it also helps us to safeguard increased security because all those kidnappers and what have you, they won't be able to demand electronic because it's traceable. That's what the system does. It is a new development. However, you see, the reality is just the way as expressed by Victor, where people are reluctant to accept change and it has to be forced. This policy has been on board for more than 10 years now, but the government has started. I think it is now left for the populace to start playing their own role. What we are saying from our end is this has created jobs. This policy, this CPN cashless policy has actually created jobs bringing people to be self-employed and generate resources as they provide services and give a little bit charge. Now, these categories of people have not been catered for in the new policy. They need to tell them that beyond the categorization of individual and corporate body, they need to be able to say, these agents, they are like a mini bank. What do you have for them to have access to cash? That's number one. Number three is the limit. Just like I said earlier, if you look at the limit, if you set the limit for POS withdrawal is 20,000. I give an example. I go to a supermarket store. I buy a bag of rice. How much is bag of rice today? 40,000. Now, that means I cannot pay with the POS the ATM card I have because the limit I am allowed to do for a day is 20,000. Even if I am not exchanging for cash, I am exchanging my use of ATM card on a POS for goods and services. I can't do that. In that case, we need to inquire for a limit to accommodate our... If I go to a market, I should be able to buy full stuff at home and pay with my card seamlessly with a limit if I don't want to use transfers. Thank you very much. It was very nice listening from you. I'm sure we're going to continue saying this later. So, victory is next after the break. Just stay with us.