Nigerians kick against introduction of N65 charges on cash withdrawals from ATMs

Nigerians, especially bank customers have strongly
kicked against the new directive by the Central Bank of
Nigeria, CBN, that commercial banks in the country
should re-introduce a charge of N65 per transaction on
remote-on-us Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) cash
withdrawals.

The apex bank had on Wednesday announced that the
policy would take effect from September 1, 2014.

Explaining why it is reintroducing the policy, CBN in a
circular released on Wednesday noted that the fee will
cover the remuneration of the switches, ATM
monitoring and fit-notes processing by acquiring
banks.

“The new charge shall apply as from the fourth remote-
on-us withdrawal (in a month) by a card holder,
thereby making the first three remote-on-us
transactions free for card holders, but to be paid for by
the issuing bank.
“September 1, 2014 shall be the effective date for the
implementation of the new fee,” it added. To this end, it
urged banks to conduct adequate sensitisation of their
customers on the policy.
“All ATM cash withdrawals on the ATM of issuing
banks shall be at no cost to the cardholder,” it
explained.
However, this new policy does not go down well with
many bank customers who have been calling for the
head of the new CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele,
describing his action as pure wickedness.
Reacting to the development, a certain Ceeflo in a
Twitter post described the policy as total ‘rubbish’
According to her, “this is rubbish! Do they consider the
common man when they come up with these new
policies? Its very difficult for a CBN governor with his
six figure salary to understand that 65 naira matters to
a lot of Nigerians….its hard to fathom…but its true.”
Venting his anger on the management of CBN,another
Nigerian who gave his name as Nxy Godwin in a post
on his Facebook wall said, “We take one step forward
but 150 steps backwards. Why isn’t any policy stable
in this country? These people should understand that it
is not their personal property, this is rubbish ! I am
sure the three free times wont even work because
some banks will charge the 65 naira, knowing fully well
that nobody will fight for 65naira.”
A Nairalander who gave his name as Ral Roy stated
that the new management of the apex bank does not
mean well for the country.
According to him, “Inconsistency is always the problem
in Naija. No continuation of any policy. As soon as
power changes hands, another policy is introduced.
“I am also expecting the new IG of Police to come
around and do his own crazy policy to mess up the
good works of his predecessor. Maybe, he will return
the boys back to the road too who knows.
“Another season of long and crazy queue to return to
the ATM machines. As most people will be wary of
using another bank’s ATM,” he lamented.
When this newspaper visited some commercial banks
in Lagos, many customers were spotted debating on
the issue.