The Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mrs Sarah Alade, has disclosed that the introduction of cashless policy in the country by the apex bank was to reduce the total cost of the financial management that included cash logistics, handling and storage which was projected to surpass N190 billion by 2012 if not checked.
According to her, the cash policy which modernises Nigeria’s payment system, reduces the cost of banking services, security and safety risks.
She said: “This policy intends to reduce and not to eliminate the use of physical cash for payment in Nigeria.”
The acting governor, who was represented by the Minna Branch Controller of the CBN, Mr Mohammed Kabir Dangusau, stated this on Tuesday during the CBN’s cashless policy sensitisation in Minna, Niger State, saying the inefficiency usually recorded in the provision of banking services was directly related to the high cost of structure.
Accordingly, she said, “on the average, 30 per cent of branch physical space and employees was devoted to cash logistics, handling and storage.
This amounted for an estimated 30 per cent of the operational cost in the financial system. The total cost of financial system was projected to surpass N190 billion by end of 2012 if nothing was done.”
Alade added that in 2010, the CBN undertook a study that identified ways of enhancing service delivery among banks, saying it also revealed high cash usage in the economy and its implication in the financial value chain.
The governor stressed that while CBN was playing a leading role in the implementation of the policy, co-operation among stakeholders was necessary if efficiency in the country’s payment system was to be improved.
