Revealed! Looters cause recession by keeping money at home – Banker

Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor

A banker, Mr Sesi Adebiyi, on Thursday said Nigeria’s economic condition was a consequence of the activities of keeping money meant to be in circulation at home by the looter.

Adebiyi, who is also the General Secretary, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Oyo State Branch, disclosed this in an interview in Ibadan.

He said that most money kept outside the banking circle could be used to reflate the economy and create jobs for the teeming unemployed Nigerians.

The banker, however, applauded the anti-corruption campaign of the Federal Government and urged Nigerians to support it.

He urged the people to stop supporting the voice of corruption from different circles that seemed to be getting louder.

“The economic condition faced by the country is mainly a consequence of the activities of those people keeping money that are supposed to be in the circulation at home which is very unfortunate.

“I have told people that meaningful progress out of the present economic quagmire could be achieved if all the loopholes through which the nation’s common wealth is being siphoned are plugged.

“Such should be plugged on a sustainable basis as being done by President Muhammadu Buhari and his team.

“This will ensure that money released now will not go into the hands of the people frustrating the economic turn-around policy of the present administration,’’ he said.

Adebiyi said that the number of those arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department State Security Service (DSS) was just a tip of the iceberg.

“There are still many untouchable people in the country that are in possession of the cash that should be in circulation to run the economy. I believe the EFCC and DSS are still beaming their search light around,’’ he said.

The banker bemoaned the rate at which people kept money in their homes, saying such has negative effects on the economy.

Adebiyi said that according to the concept of demand for money, people kept money at home to meet daily purchase of goods and services, for unforeseen circumstances and to make speculative gains.

He said other notable reasons peculiar to the country was to keep ill-gotten money from the sight or control of monetary regulatory institutions like Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and EFCC, among others.

“They keep money here in the country to beat the stipulations of CBN cashless policy, poor banking habits, loss of confidence in the banking sector and to avoid being caught by the Bank Verification Number (BVN) and Treasury Single Account (TSA),” Adebiyi said.

The banker recommended that the only money to be kept at home should be for the purpose of buying fuel, food, transport fares and similar minor expenses whether personal or corporate.

Adebiyi recommended that not more than 10 percent of the accepted demand for money should be kept at hand, home or anywhere.

He stated that keeping money at home for unnecessary and unacceptable reasons are great leakages from the banking sector.

The banker suggested that the act should be discouraged by the cashless policy of the CBN and outright stoppage of cash settlement with stiff penalties or sanctions for its breach.

He also advised that monies recovered from looters should be released to the economy as soon as all legal technicalities involved are settled.