The Central Bank policy on cashless banking, which was rescheduled to kick- start in Rivers and four other states of the federation on the 1st of October,2013, as against the initial kick off date of 1st July, 2013 is on the way, a business mogul in the maritime industry, Chief Uche Martins, has drawn the attention of government on the need to properly sensitize the general populace before embarking on certain policies.
The Managing Director of Zebraka Merchants Limited and Uma Investment Limited, made the call through a telephone chat with The Newswriter in PortHarcourt and reiterated the need for stakeholders to be engaged by Federal Government in formulating certain policies.
He however, charged the media to always sample the opinion of stakeholders and Nigerians in general on certain polices of government, to ascertain whether such policy will be good for the people or not, before such polices are being carried out.
While speaking at the Diamond Bank Customer’s Forum that was recently held in Port Harcourt, Mrs Maureen Onwochei disclosed that cashless policy was a policy from Central Bank of Nigeria for all the banks across Nigeria. She added that the policy was to reduce the flow of cash in the system, and to provide accountability among others.
The Business Manager of Trans-Amadi branch of the bank, opined that the cashless system will provide a situation where any cheque that exceeds N 150, 000 can not be drawn in cash but to be transferred to the drawers account. Maureen affirmed that the policy will provide an enabling environment that will help in tracing movement of monies in the system, adding that the system will not just be good for the banks, but for the generality of Nigerians, she added.
She however, called for the engagement of professionals in the banking business, to forestall any shortcoming that many arise from the policy.
Meanwhile Chief Ken Nwala, Managing Director of Corporate Communications Ltd., called on Nigerians to embrace the policy. He advised that the policy will allow Nigerians to transact businesses and make payments in the comfort of their offices, without necessarily issuing cheques or going to make withdrawals, adding that it will save as well. ###
By Blaise Elumezie
