Nigeria will ban cash withdrawals from government accounts from March 1 to tackle illicit activity and push toward a cashless economy. About 1.1t naira ($2.4b) has been taken out of public accounts in cash since 2015, with most transactions exceeding legal thresholds, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Chief Executive Modibbo Tukur said.
“On March 1, if there is a cash withdrawal from a government account, even if it is one naira, we are going to trigger off money laundering and corruption investigations,” he told reporters in the capital, Abuja. Only the president will be able to grant exemptions to the measures, Tukur said.