Nigerian Government Moves To Ban Withdrawal Of Cash From All Public Accounts

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has revealed that the government is planning to stop cash withdrawals from federal, states and local government accounts.

FG Bans Cash Withdrawals From All Public Accounts

The NFIU Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Modibbo Tukur disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, 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 puts public servants at risk of imprisonment.

Additionally, Tukur said the NFIU has 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 will also need to organise training for market men and women on how to use automated teller machine (ATM) and point of sale (POS) services.

Tukur also dismissed as false claims being made by uninformed persons that the NFIU would block all federal government accounts from January 1, 2023.

This comes a few weeks after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) imposed fresh cash withdrawal limits on individuals and organizations, which takes effect from January 9, 2023.