ABUJA MARCH 1, 2017 – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has attributed the delay in implementing the cash-less policy initiative nationwide to the need for proper preparation. Besides, it wants to tap from the experience gained from the pilot states.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Electronic Payment Incentive Scheme (EPIS) 2016 awards in Lagos at the weekend, the Deputy Governor (Operations), CBN, Adebayo Adelabu, said the apex bank was working to ensure that the aim of the cashless policy was realised despite the delay in its takeoff in the remaining 30 states.
“As we all know, the success of any initiative depends on the amount of preparation that you put in before you go into execution level. We have used about six states as pilot states. We have learnt our lessons, we have made mistakes and corrected them and before we move into the other 30 states, all the learning points of the six states would be applied in the remaining 30 states. So we have spent so much time preparing for this and we believe we’ll not have any challenge when we go nationwide,” Adelabu said.
He said the cash-less policy, which the CBN is implementing with the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and all the commercial banks, will be a success as it goes nationwide.
Adelabu said the CBN supported the EPIS initiative, saying he was excited at the recent development in the payment system. “The CBN has been identified as a leader in the payment system because of the successes recorded by the project. I foresee faster, more rapid and effective payment system in the coming years, given the caliber of operators we have in Nigeria. They have all done well. The operators are happy that they were recognised for the big roles they played in the last one year. The reward for hard work is more work,” he said.
The Chief Executive, NIBSS, Ade Shonubi, who pointed out that the role of NIBSS in the system has always been that of infrastructure provider, assured Nigerians that his organisation will ensure that “the backbone works. We will try to scale it up so that as the volume grows, there would be no impact”. We already have an idea of what is going to happen, so we are already scaling up,” he stated.
Shonubi also advised banks and other stakeholders to sensitise members of the public on the initiative.
The EPIS “Most Customer Experience (Electronic Payment Platform Experience) Award, was won by Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. Also, Zenith Bank won the ‘Cashless Driver Bulk Payment’ and the ‘Cashless Driver PoS Transaction’ awards, while the ‘Cashless Driver Instant Payment;’ ‘Cashless Driver PoS Issued Cards Transaction’ and three other awards went to GTBank.
