What You Must Do to Withdraw Above CBN Cash Limits

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

This week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that from next year, precisely from Monday, January 9, 2023, it would reduce the amount of cash in the financial system by limiting what Nigerians can withdraw from the various channels, over-the-counter (OTC), ATMs, and POS terminals.

In a circular, the bank said the highest amount of cash that can be withdrawn per week is N100,000 for individual customers and N500,000 for corporate customers. However, those who intend to take more than that must be ready to part with a 5 per cent processing fee for individuals and a 10 per cent fee for corporates.

It said withdrawals from ATMs and POS terminals would be N20,000 daily and N100,000 weekly.

This is not going down well with Nigerians, both bank users and POS operators, who believe it is almost the end of the road for them.

The CBN has said it came up with this policy to increase the use of digital financial transactions, which it believes Nigerians are not embracing despite efforts to encourage them.

Despite this hurdle to cash withdrawals, Nigerians can still withdraw more than the CBN cash limits, only that they must fulfil some requirements listed below.

To take more than the N100,000 and N500,000 caps, a customer must provide a valid means of identification like a national ID, international passport, driver’s licence or a permanent voter’s card (PVC).

In addition, the customer would have to provide his/her Bank Verification Number (BVN) and a notarized declaration of the purpose of the cash withdrawal.

Finally, the customer would have to submit written approval from the company’s Managing Director for corporate drawee.

When all these are provided, the bank will process them and obtain the approval of the chief executive for the money to be released to the customer.