Cash withdrawals: No going back on policy, NFIU tells governors

• Published date: 21 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

The Director, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Modibbo Hamman Tukur has said it will not waive its new policy on cash withdrawal from government accounts.

He asked the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) to show some understanding because the policy was designed to save the Naira.

He said the entire financial system suffered excess liquidity and liquidity ratio infringements.

He said NFIU took preemptive measures to control the looming barrage of investigations in the nation's financial system.

He said Nigerian banks, of recent, have been fined of millions of U.S Dollars by the United States FIU and the United Kingdom FIU due to non-compliance.

Tukur made the NFIU's position known in Abuja following the NGF's claim that the ban on cash transactions was outside its 'legal remit and mandate.'

According to a statement by NFIU's Chief Media Analyst, Ahmed Dikko, the Director made the clarifications when approached by newsmen to respond to Statement issued by Chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum regarding the guidelines on cash withdrawals from all government accounts,

Tukur said: 'First of all, we are ready to partner with the six- man committee they set up. We will enlighten them.'

'Secondly we acted within our functions and the law. We issued the guidelines to control the barrage of investigations that we saw coming. Our guidelines were meant to help the governors not to fight them or any public servant.'

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He said the increasing recourse to transactions by government institutions was alarming and undesirable for the country.

He said: 'We reached a stage that if we allow the present scenario to continue, all public institutions will drift into structured cash withdrawals of certain amounts of money which by law, standards and best practices must be investigated continuously which is neither desirable nor reasonable.

'We feel communities must move on by accommodating changes and adjusting to new developments.

'Last time, we issued the Local government Guidelines we were taken to court but we won the case.'

Tukur also explained that it was important to save the nation's Naira and banking sector.

He said NFIU had been tolerating some excesses in the financial and banking sectors for too long.

He added: 'But more importantly we need to understand that in recent past United States FIU and United Kingdom FIU penalized Nigerian banks with fines of millions of U.S Dollars due to...