Withdrawal limits will cripple campaign finance, parties say

• Parties must write to CBN for waiver, saying cashless policy will stifle political process and fundraising

•If Buhari had not had access to funding in 2014, he would never have been president, says PDP

•The policy will create logistical problems, it will be difficult to pay party agents nationwide – ADC, ADP

Political parties have opposed new cash withdrawal limits introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria, saying it could stifle the political process.

Parties such as the Peoples' Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, African Democratic Congress and African Democratic Party argued that the policy would affect the fundraising required by candidates to support their campaigns before the 2023 elections.

Furthermore, in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Sunday, the African Action Alliance, the Zenith Labor Party and the Progressive Grand Alliance said it would impact poor people in rural areas.

Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State had accused CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele of targeting politicians with the new cash withdrawal limit which limits cash withdrawals to counter by individuals and businesses at N100,000 and N500,000 respectively per week.

It also limited ATM withdrawals at POS and ATMs to N20,000 per day.

According to a memo signed Tuesday by CBN Director of Banking Supervision, Haruna Mustafa, withdrawals above the thresholds would attract processing fees of 5% and 10%, respectively, for natural persons and morals going forward.

In addition, third party checks above N50,000 will not be eligible for OTC payment while the existing limits of N10 million on clearing checks are still in effect.

The circular also directed banks to only load denominations of N200 and below into their ATMs and limit withdrawals to NAR 20,000 per day from ATMs.

The policy, which will take effect on January 9, 2023, has drawn criticism, but the CBN clarified on Wednesday that PoS operators can apply for waivers.

PDP Campaign Launches

Commenting on the circular, the Director of Strategic Communications of the National Election Management Committee of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Chief Dele Momodu, said that the recently announced cash withdrawal policy would affect party fundraising, adding that "if enforced, the policy will strangle the political process, not the PDP alone."

He said: "In 2014/2015, I am sure that if (President) Buhari had not had access to funding, he would never have been President of Nigeria. There are people who make contributions to political parties and some parties have put in place structures to receive support from people. How then will they be able to access the fund if they say you cannot withdraw more than 100,000 naira per week? he asked

"I read somewhere that the CBN said the policy won't be rigid, but why do the policy in the first place if it's not going to be rigid?" he asked.

On how the implementation of the policy may affect the PDP, Momodu said, "The Finance Committee is best placed to say how this will affect us as we prepare for a series of activities leading up to the general election. Maybe the finance committee, if they think the party will be negatively affected, will consider writing to the CBN, but as I said earlier, it's more of a problem for the common man in the street than for a political party.

He also explained how the new CBN policy would affect the poor.

He added, "Why make a policy that will largely affect the poor more than the rich? My concern is that most of our policies still target the poor. The PDP is worried about the poor woman of the market, the common man on the street, because we are still running a cash-and-carry economy.

The National President of the Africa Democratic Congress, Chief Ralph Nwosu, observed that the policy could pose a challenge to the parties, noting that the CBN had not conducted adequate awareness campaigns on its topic, pointing out that she was politically motivated.

Nwosu noted that the policy would affect the party's campaign, saying paying ADC agents in rural areas could be a challenge.

He added, ''How do you expect the ADC candidate to have the money to do the things he wants to do and how do you think this is the best time for such a business?

''We have nearly 200,000 agents that we have to pay and 80% of them live in rural areas. Is it that N2,000 or N5,000 that you pay them that you would transfer to each of them? How many o...