CBN withdrawal limits: Apochi backs policy, says 98 percent of internet, mobile transactions successful

Mr Agada Boniface Apochi, the Chief Executive Officer of Unified Payments and Hope PSBank, has defended the Central Bank of Nigeria’s cashless policy, arguing that the policy is to the advantage of poor Nigerians who don’t have much money in their bank accounts.

He said the policy came at the right time as 98 percent of internet and mobile transactions have been recorded successful.

Apochi, in an interview on Channels TV said it is not possible for an ordinary Nigerian in the village to withdraw and spend N100,000 weekly. He argued that over 90 percent of average Nigerians do not have up to N400,000 and do not have to bother about the new policy.

The financial expert and investor reeled out statistics to further justify his points, stating that the poverty index as released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank shows that an average Nigerian does not save up to N400,000 in his or her bank account.

Speaking on the argument that Nigeria is not ready for such a tough cashless regime because of the numerous failed transactions and network issues experienced by banks, Apochi argued that only 2 percent failure had been recorded in recent times going by available statistics. He said that about 98 percent of internet and mobile transactions went successful.

According to him, there are other internet options such as the USSD that supports internet and mobile transactions, arguing that even at that, the minimum wage of Nigerian workers is N30,000 and that workers who earn based on the minimum wage cannot be withdrawing above100,000 weekly.