FG to stop cash withdrawal from all govt accounts

The government is set to stop cash withdrawals from federal, state and local government accounts, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit has said.
Director/Chief Executive Officer, NFIU, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday which was signed by the unit’s chief media analyst, Ahmed Dikko.
According to the statement, Tukur spoke at a parley with Mahmud Yakubu, chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Monday.
“The government is putting all necessary measures in place to stop cash withdrawal from federal, states and local government accounts,” he said.
“Because of the consistent devaluation of the naira and the introduction of a new naira policy, section 1 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act is automatically activated.”
Tukur further said most cash withdrawals from government accounts — including payments for estacode — are often in excess of the cash withdrawal limit provided by the Money Laundering Act.
He said this would put public servants at risk of imprisonment.
He also said the NFIU had already prepared recommendations to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, all governors, and local council chairs, directing all civil servants to open domiciliary and naira accounts prior to the commencement of the policy.
The NFIU CEO said governors and council chairmen would also need to organise training for market men and women on how to use automated teller machine (ATM) and point of sale (POS) services.
However, he refuted reports that the NFIU would block the FG accounts in January 2023.
The unit’s decision is coming on the back of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) cash withdrawal policy, where weekly cash withdrawals are fixed at N100,000 for individuals and N500,000 for corporates.
Maximum cash withdrawal at PoS terminals has also been reduced to N20,000 daily.
The policy is scheduled to take effect nationwide from January 9, 2023.