The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has said it will not reverse the cash withdrawal limit guidelines issued earlier this month.
A statement by NFIU Chief Media Analyst, Ahmed Dikko, said it had given enough time for all entities in the country to withdraw cash above the approved daily limit.
Mr Dikko also said it was no longer in the interest of the country and its citizens to continue to indulge in such violation.
According to the statement, the Director of the NFIU, Modibbo Hamman Tukur, had said at the end of his meeting with the governors that the agency was ready to cooperate with the six-man committee set up to work with it.
Mr Modibbo said: “We acted within our functions and the law. We issued the guidelines to control the barrage of investigations that we saw coming. Our guidelines are meant to help the governors not to fight them or any public servant.
“We reached a stage that if we allow the present scenario to continue, all public institutions will drift into Structure Cash Withdrawals of certain amounts of money which by law, standards and best practices must be investigated continuously which is neither desirable nor reasonable.
He argued that the Last time the NFIU issued the Local government guidelines, they were taken to court but won the case.
The director further noted that in recent past the United States FIU and United Kingdom FIU penalized Nigerian banks with fines of millions of US Dollars due to non-compliance.
He said the entire financial system suffered excess liquidity and liquidity ratio infringements which put hedging pressure of demand for foreign currency and gradually destroying the value of the Naira and above all creating wide room for money laundering and terrorism affecting significantly the rural populace on top of general inflation in the open market place.
“We are in support of working together to stop these challenges and in most progressive manner,” he added.
