The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday continued with its nationwide sensitisation and public enlightenment exercise on its naira redesign project as the January 31, 2023 deadline for the retirement of the old N200, N500 and N1,000 draws closer.
It also stressed that it has enough new banknotes to go
round. It urged Nigerians to report banks that don’t dispense new notes on
their Automated Teller Machines (ATM).
It reiterated that it would begin to sanction banks that
fail to comply with its directive.
CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele who was represented by the
Director of the Legal Services Department, Mr. Kofo Salam-Alada said this
during a sensitisation event at the popular Computer Village market in Lagos.
He emphasised that the January 31, 2023 deadline remains
sacrosanct, adding that the central bank was continuously monitoring activities
across Nigeria to ensure compliance.
Salam-Alada, while noting that he had gone round to some
ATMs in Lagos and discovered that some were still dispensing old notes, said
the apex bank would soon announce sanctions for banks that failed to comply
with the directive to load and dispense the new notes through their ATMS.
“I can tell you today that the CBN on daily basis issues out
the new notes. As we speak, banks are with the CBN taking money. We are
actually begging banks to come and take money from the central bank. We have
these new naira in our vaults and we are begging banks to come and take it.
“We found out that a lot of things are happening that we need
to checkmate, so we stopped withdrawals of the new notes over the counter to
ensure that everyone can have access to it and not one chief who is known to
the manager walks in and carts away all the new notes in a particular branch.
That is why we said it should be at the ATMs which cannot distinguish people.
“We also have monitors going around banks now. I have been
to some ATMs this morning and i have done the reports. We are not mobilising
the masses against the banks, because the banks are there to serve you, but be
rest assured that they will serve you now that they know that the CBN is on
them to serve you with the new naira notes.
“What we are experiencing now will actually ease up very
soon, because the banks now know that there will be a penalty for failure to
come and pick money from the CBN and failure to dispense through the ATM. Tell
your members that if they have problems accessing the new naira notes, they can
call the CBN to report,” he stated.
Responding to questions from traders in the market that some
persons were already hawking the new notes, stressed that anyone caught would
face the full wrath of the law.
Speaking on the new notes, the President of the Coalition of
Associations in Computer Village, Timi Davies, said the naira redesign project
was a good initiative, “but unfortunately the new notes is not well circulated
within our market. The ATM machines are not dispensing the new notes and only a
few priviledged ones seem to be having access to the new notes.
“We want to encourage the CBN and the government to enforce
the deadline on the banks. There should be no bank that should not be giving
the new naira from their ATMs.
“All ATMs should load the new notes. As we are giving the
old notes we should be able to get the new notes. If the ATMs are not
dispensing, the new notes will not flow around.”
On his part, the Olukosi of Ikeja Land, Chief Lateef
Oluseyi, assured the CBN of the support of the traditional ruling house in
educating the community.
Also, in Ondo State, the central bank took the sensitisation
on the newly redesigned naira notes to Oja Oba market, and other markers in
Akure, the Ondo State capital, urging traders to deposit their old banknotes
before January 31.
Speaking during the event, the CBN Acting Branch Controller,
Ondo State, Mr. Giwa Samuel Ademola said the message was to inform the public
about the newly redesigned naira notes and also to inform them on the need to
deposit the old notes before the deadline.
He said: “The benefits of the currency redesign to the
Nigerian economy are enormous given that: This policy will help to control
inflation as the exercise will bring the hoarded currency into the banking
system, thereby making monetary policy more effective, it will also help with
better design and implementation of monetary policy as we would have much more
accurate data on money supply and monetary aggregates.
According to him, “statistics showed that N2.72 trillion out
of the $3.26 trillion currency in circulation as of June 2022 was outside the
vaults of commercial banks across the country, and supposedly held by members
of the public. This statistic shows that 84.71 percent of currency in
circulation are outside the vaults of commercial banks, with only 15.29 percent
in the central bank and commercial banks’ vaults.”
Reacting, the Eyelaje of Oba Adesida Market, Mrs. Emilia
Adedeji Adesida called on the apex bank to extend its deadline for the phasing
out of the old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes.
Others who spoke complained that some of the banks operating
in the state were still dispensing the old notes through their ATMs.
In Akwa Ibom State, officials of the apex bank yesterday met
with the stakeholders and traders at the popular Akpan Andem market along
Udoudoma street, Uyo, the State capital on the sensitisation exercise.
At the gathering, the traders were counselled on the
currency redesign project and various monetary policies of the bank.
The Branch Controller of CBN, Akwa Ibom State, Mrs. Mercy
Itoham Ogbomon-Paul stressed that the CBN was determined to ensuring that the
currency redesign policy succeed in the country.
According to her, the global best practice was for central
banks to redesign, produce and circulate new legal tender currencies every five
to eight years to ensure effective currency management and achievement of
monetary policy objectives.
The Branch Controller of CBN maintained that the existing
series of currencies in Nigeria had not been redesigned in the past 15, 19 and
over 20 years.
The CBN Branch Controller insisted that the redesigning of
the naira was to help deepen the drive for a cashless economy, as it would be
used alongside the e-naira and other digital payment platforms.
“It will enhance the security features of the currency to
curb counterfeiting and reduce access to large volume of cash for illegal
activities such as terrorism, banditry, kidnapping etc.
“It will also minimise the hoarding of the banknotes by
members of the public, which has led to a shortage of clean/fit banknotes,” she
added.
Also, the Dutse branch of the CBN yesterday monitored ATMs
of commercial banks in the state to enforce the directive on dispensing of the
new banknotes.
This was disclosed by the branch controller, Hajiya Sa’adatu
Ibrahim Aminu, during the sensitisation of stakeholders on the currency
redesign project, which was held at
Dutse Ultra Model market.
Aminu explained that the apex bank provides redesigned
currency to all commercial banks in the state, “and we ordered them not load
old currencies in their ATMs anymore.”
According to her, “we made very good arrangements for quick
supply of the redesigned currency to all the bank branches across the 27 local
government areas.”
She also advised members of the public and traders in
particular to accept the old currencies, saying it was still valid till January
31st.
“Do not panic, the currency is safe and valid for now,” she
added, saying, “there is no limit to how much a customer can deposit between
now and January 31, 2023, as CBN has suspended bank charges.”
She called on the public to explore other payment channels,
such as the eNaira, POS, electronic transfer, USSD, internet banking and mobile
money operators and agents for their economic activities.
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