26th January, 2023
By Polycarp Auta
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has denied reports that the new naira notes are in short supply, as some Nigerians have claimed.
Represented by Musa Jimoh, Director, Payment System Management Department, the CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele denied the allegation in a news conference in Jos.
“The CBN has massively supplied the new notes to commercial banks to dispense both at counters and ATMs.”
“This is to enable quick circulation, and we want to advise commercial banks to desist from keeping the cash away from the public or face a stiffer sanction,” he said.
Emefiele advised citizens to deposit their old notes at any commercial bank and obtain new ones as soon as possible, emphasising that the January 31 deadline remained inviolable.
The CBN governor stated that the decision to redesign the currency demonstrates that the central bank is in line with global standards, adding that currency notes should be redesigned within five years.
He regretted, however, that it took Nigeria nine years to implement such changes.
Speaking during a ‘monitoring and sensitisation’ exercise held in some locations in Jos, the CBN governor said that the decision to redesign the country’s higher denominations of currency was a national project aimed at addressing cash circulation problems.
He added that it would also solve the challenges of prolonged savings in piggy banks, cash hoarding, and incidences of fake currencies.
“The Monitoring and Sensitisation project was activated by the apex bank for investigation of the attitude of banks toward the spread of the new currencies.
”We are equally using it to create awareness on the use of agents to circulate the cash in communities with few or no bank branches available,” he explained
He advised that faulty currencies be returned to banks for replacements and cautioned people entertaining the thought that the CBN might extend the deadline to desist as they could face losses.
NAN