A lawyer resident in Anambra,  Chijioke Ifediora, had filed a suit seeking to declare CBN’s cashless policy as biased as it is in contravention to Section 42 of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria (as amended).

The Nigerian Lawyer reports that the presiding judge, N.O. Dimgba, described the policy as unreasonable, saying CBN should provide justification for such policy as provided by the Nigerian law.

“This aspect of the policy imposing financial levies on lodgements/deposits, in my view, appears unreasonable. And it makes no difference if same was applied throughout the federation or limited to only the residents of a few states,” Mr Dimgba said.

“This nation, as all civilised nations of the modern era, is governed by the rule of law. The rule of law demands that government institutions, such as the defendant in this suit, should provide rational justifications for policy choices they have made and not to act arbitrarily,” he added.

Mr Ifediora told the court that in January 2020, he entered a bank to deposit N600,000 but was informed by a staff that he had to pay a charge of three per cent of the said amount.

“On enquiry, I was shown a Central Bank circular which was pasted across the cash machine PSM/DIR/CON/CWO/02/014 published on September 17, 2019, mandating the bank to charge three per cent for lodgement above N500,000,” Mr Ifediora said.

CBN argued that Mr Ifediora had no legal authority to institute an action on behalf of citizens and corporate institutions in the  five states where the policy exists.

Justice Dimgba continued “Assuming that the cashless policy is beneficial to the nation for its financial stability and growth, and inevitably demands the imposition of financial levies on banking customers as an incident of its operationalisation, why will residents in some named states suffer this disability while those in other states do not?

“I believe the claims in these depositions are sufficient to donate the plaintiff not only with a locus standi, but also a reasonableness on the case which he has brought before the court?” he added.

The states operating CBN’s cashless policy included Abuja, Abia, Kano, Lagos, Anambra, Rivers and Ogun state.

In a CBN circular dated September 17, banks were directed to charge three per cent processing fee for withdrawal on individual transactions above N500,000 and five per cent charges on corporate transactions above N3 million.

This charges applies to the aforementioned  states in addition to already existing charges which takes effect from March 31, 2020.