Fakoyejo OlalekanNigerians have been faulted for the scarcity of the Naira notes, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said releasing more banknotes won’t solve the situation.
The apex bank said Nigerians need to change their attitude as they are behind the scarcity due to them hoarding the Naira notes.
CBN’s Director, Consumer Protection Department, Rashidat Monguno, made the assertion on Thursday while monitoring the Naira redesign policy compliance of Microfinance banks in Kwara State.
Nigeria’s financial regulator had instructed bank directors to monitor compliance among banks as regards the disbursement of the new Naira notes.
The instruction was given due to the scarcity of redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 notes which were released in December 2022 after the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, announced plan to change the banknotes’ outlook and security features in October 2022.
Banks have been finding it increasingly difficult to meet demands from customers who want to withdraw over the counter and via the Auto Teller Machine (ATM).
Some of the banks have been complaining that the redesigned Naira notes is insufficient to meet withdrawal requests, but the CBN accused the banks of not coming to obtain the banknotes at the central bank.
The CBN has now pointed its fingers at Nigerians, blaming them for the scarcity, “Because of the attitude of some Nigerians in hoarding the money, even those that don’t really need the money are rushing to get it and keep, not to spend.
“Currency management is a cycle but we have not allowed the cycle to mature, because when you issue out currency as CBN, what we expect is that the naira issued will come back into the banking system again.
“But now, everybody collecting the naira is hoarding it. So, no matter how much naira we put out there, if we continue with this attitude and the CBN issue (new notes) from now till December, it will still not be enough,” Monguno said.
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