Nigerians have been assured that commercial banks will still accept their old naira notes after the February 10 deadline given by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for naira swap.
This was the assurance given by the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, when he appeared before the ad hoc committee set up by the House of Representatives on the CBN naira redesign policy.
Emefiele was accused by the Speaker of the house, Femi Gbajabiamila, of breaching section 20 of the CBN Act.
The CBN governor, reacting to this, said, ‘Section 20 says even after the old currency has lost its legal tender status that we are mandated to collect that money. And I stand with the House of Reps on this.
‘If you have money that you have not been able to send to the bank, we will certainly give you the opportunity to bring them back into the CBN to redeem it.
‘Either you pay it to your bank account or you want to do an exchange, we give you. You will not lose your money. This is the assurance I give to Nigerians’.
This assurance comes as a relief to some Nigerians who have still been unable to deposit their old notes at the bank.
However, the CBN needs to address other pressing concerns which revolve around getting the new notes.
Many Nigerians have complained about the extra charges Point of Sale (POS) operators are charging to dispense the new naira notes. The operators claim that the charges are due to the difficulty in accessing the notes from banks.
Development Diaries learnt that there is now an agreement among all POS operators to collect a ten-percent charge on all withdrawals.
The Department of State Services (DSS) recently said it arrested some members of an organised syndicate selling the new naira notes in parts of the country, even though names and locations of suspects were not disclosed.
The situation is not better in banking halls because bank customers wait long hours in long queues outside banks, only for them to be told that there is no cash to withdraw.
There are reports that commercial banks are hoarding new naira notes. How long will Nigerians and businesses continue to bear the frustrations this is causing?
We call on the CBN to enforce strict sanctions on currency racketeers in order to stop this crisis that is bedeviling the Nigerian economy.
Emefiele should see to it that all defaulting bank managers are called out openly and sanctioned, in order for other banks to comply.
The apex bank also needs to monitor the POS operators working with banks to hoard the new naira notes and ensure appropriate sanctions.
Photo source: Presidency Nigeria