Imprisonment for public servants withdrawing cash, says NFIU

By Cynthia Ezekwe

The Nigerian Financial and Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has announced that public servants, including state governors, would be sentenced to prison if found guilty of making withdrawals above the threshold directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Modibbo Hamman Tukur, director, NFIU, recently made the announcement at a briefing in Abuja, where he served a notice to the three tiers of government that all payments from the public treasury beyond the threshold approved for daily cash limit by the CBN  must be done electronically.

Tukur disclosed that the effective date for the enforcement of the guideline by all public authorities, institutions and organisations in the financial sector, financial institutions and designated non-financial institutions is 1 March, 2023.

According to him, anyone who flouts the new guideline would be charged in accordance with relevant instruments on money laundering and corruption operating in the country, and would face the full weight of the law, irrespective of his/her position.

Tukur noted that cash withdrawals from public accounts had been prohibited by the requirement of the laws under reference, while the payment of estacodes and overseas allowances to civil and public servants in cash had also been outlawed.

“Under no circumstance shall any category of public officers be given a standing or continuous waiver to withdraw cash from any public account in any financial institution or designated non-financial institution,’’ he said.

According to the NFIU director, application of the  guideline includes all foreign missions operating in Nigeria, accounts of all development partner institutions, and the accounts of all instituted funds in form of independent funds to be operated as mutual funds such as insurance funds, cooperative funds, brokerages funds, political party funds or pressure group/union funds, once the funds are designated to exist as funds or to operate independently for management and/or investment.

“By these guidelines, the local government’s N500,000 cash withdrawal limit with regards to public accounts and instituted funds are hereby discontinued. These guidelines supersede and repeal the N500,000 cash withdrawal limit of local government funds and also, since it is for criminal purposes, supersedes the CBN’s regulation on cash withdrawal limit with regards to public accounts and instituted funds,” he added.

Citing Section 2 of MLPPA, 2022, Section 13 of MLPPA, 2022, NFIU Act, 2018 and Section 26 of POCA, 2022, he warned that any public office at the federal, state and local government levels, who flout the new cash  policy violates the law and is liable to penalties attached to money laundering offence.

According to Tukur, the waiver to withdraw more daily cash than approved by the CBN can only be granted by the presidency, based on exigency.

Speaking on the reason for the cashless policy implementation, Tukur noted that the application of the new measures became necessary to enable Nigeria to comply with the enforcement, guidelines and policies for the mitigation of money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation of weapons and prevention of predicate crimes.