The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has given the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) additional two weeks to ensure naira notes circulate across the country.
Development Diaries reports that the union had earlier threatened to picket all branches of the CBN beginning from 29 March if the government and the CBN did not end the nationwide cash scarcity.
According to the NLC, its decision to suspend the planned strike followed a ‘careful observation’ that there had been partial compliance by the CBN with a Supreme Court judgment to make cash available in banks.
Some commercial banks have raised their cash withdrawal limits from the current N20,000–N50,000 range to over N80,000–N100,000 to help tackle lingering queues at banks.
This was after the CBN announced the cash evacuation from its vaults to Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) on 24 March.
Observations have shown that this move has greatly reduced queues in banking halls, however, there have been reports of point of sale (PoS) agents mopping up the cash in automated teller machines (ATMs).
Also, due to the fear of another cash crunch, most Nigerians have been seen hoarding cash in their possession instead of transacting with them.
Development Diaries urges the CBN to improve cash circulation to ease queues from ATMs across the country.
We also urge commercial banks to continue to load their ATMs with cash, and to go back to the expected withdrawal limits for PoS agents, in order to boost cash supply in rural areas where banks are not easily accessible.
Photo source: NLC