Former Senator Shehu Sani has strongly condemned the recent decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to eliminate the three free monthly ATM withdrawals for customers using ATMs outside their own banks.
In an X post on Thursday, Sani warned that the new fee structure—effective March 1, 2025—could force Nigerians to revert to the old era of physically visiting banks to cash cheques.
Under the revised policy, customers will incur a fee of N100 per N20,000 withdrawal at on-site ATMs of other banks, along with a potential surcharge of up to N500 for off-site transactions.
Sani argued that increasing ATM fees would only add to the financial burdens of ordinary Nigerians and degrade the convenience of modern banking.
“If the CBN continues to hike ATM charges, we’ll return to a time when people had no choice but to visit banks in person to access their funds,” he said.
Sani’s comments echo broader public concerns about the rising cost of financial transactions and serve as a call for regulators to ensure that such measures do not undermine consumer accessibility.
