Bullion Vans

By Lekan Oladele

I like people to be informed, especially when I see feelings trump knowledge. It is a personal preference to like, dislike or even hate Bola Tinubu, it is the prerogative of the holder of such emotions, but it is a favor to oneself to gain knowledge at every opportunity. Most of the time, gaining knowledge helps me manage my emotions appropriately. For example, why should I cry over a failed bank transaction when I am informed enough to know that failed transactions will be reversed.

Bullion Vans are used to transport cash at the request of the owner, be it a business or an individual. If you want a bank to bring cash to your home/office or if you want the bank to pick up cash from your home/office, it MUST be transported with a bullion van and it s This is a procedure mandated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This is called cash-in-transit (CIT) transactions. Every customer of the bank has the right to receive services from CIT, but this is a paid service. The knowledge I want to share;

A bank is not allowed by regulation to move money except through CBN-licensed CIT service providers. This applies whether they are moving money for clients or moving between their own branches.

When a bank moves money without using the CIT service, it is a regulatory violation.

Travel distance does not matter as long as cash is moved from a branch to another location, it must be moved through CIT.

Just like the distance, the amount also doesn’t matter, if you move N50,000.00 without CIT service and get robbed, better not to report it, because it will be treated as a violation and you will be punished in addition to paying the customer’s money. You could even be convicted and imprisoned. Therefore, whether the client wants you to move N100bn, N100m or N100,000.00, what the regulations say is that you must move it through CIT. In fact, if a bank branch transfers money from a branch to an automated teller machine (ATM) that is not in the branch, even if it is just across the road, the rule is to move it via CIT. An ATM with only 1,000.00 notes can only take about 8 million naira. Every time you see a cash truck, it doesn’t always translate to a VERY big volume of cash, it’s just a matter of following the regulations. The regulations cover such things as the number of armed security guards that must accompany the truck.

I thought of sharing the above, it can be interpreted based on personal views, but I have a bonus statement below:

I do not like that a candidate does not withdraw electoral votes from this candidate, what is important is to give more votes to the candidate you like so that the candidate you do not like does not win. The rantings and the votes live in separate worlds.

*Lekan Oladele is a public affairs analyst