The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) through its Managing director, Mr Ehi Okoyomon has revealed that three billion pieces naira notes are printed yearly in the country. The amount spent in printing these three billion pieces of naira notes was not disclosed.
Mr Okoyomon said that a quantity of the three billion is kept in vaults while what is left is disbursed into the economy for circulation through the purchase of goods and services, financial transactions, tax payments, and other purposes.
Mr Okoyomon, speaking at an e-Payment Thought Leadership Breakfast Series, organised by Intermarc Consulting, said the cashless policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s would reduce the quantity of naira NSPMC would print in the future. Also, the loss incurred on the naira as a result of bad handling and abuse would be reduced substantially. He pointed that Nigeria was one of five countries (USA, Indonesia, China and India) in the world that spend so much to print its notes.
Mr Okoyomon also stressed that for the cash-less policy to be successful, strategies that would engender the spread of the initiative across the country should be adopted. He called on stakeholders including the CBN, banks, service providers, e-payment operators to work in tandem with the government for the policy to be successful.
"All over the world, statistics have shown that the use of cash is not reducing, in spite of e-payment drive, what only happens is that there is less physical cash transactions. Cash is still king," Okoyomon said, explaining that the policy does not push for a total non-usage of cash.
The cash-less banking policy was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria on the 1st of January 2012 and it limits daily maximum transaction at N150, 000 and N1, 000,000 by individuals and corporate customers, respectively. Any violation of the transactional limit would attract a penalty of N100 per thousand for individual customers and N200 per thousand for corporate customers. Third cheques above N150, 000 will not be eligible for encashment over the counter and would only be paid through the clearing house.