Prime Business Africa Hosts Twitter Space To Discuss CBN’s Naira Debacle

As Nigerians suffer the ripple effect from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) hasty transition from the old Naira to the redesigned banknotes, Prime Business Africa has organised a Twitter space to shed more light on the Naira debacle.

The Twitter space titled; ‘The Naira Debacle’, will hold on Friday, 3, February 2023. The public forum will feature seasoned journalists from various media organisations that have been monitoring and reporting events relating to the CBN’s currency policy. 

Among the panellists are the Business Editor of Daily Trust/Anchor and Trust TV, Sunday Michael,  Business Editor of The Will Newspaper, Mr Sam Diala, Assistant Business Editor, The Guardian, Geoff Iyatse and Vanguard’s Business Editor, Emeka Anaeto. 

Others on the list are:  ThisDay’s Business Editor, Eromosele Abiodun, Nigerian Tribune’s Titus Nwokoji, and Daily Sun’s Business Editor, Mr Amechi Ogbonna. 

The discussion will be hosted by Prime Business Africa’s founder, Dr Marcel Mbamalu. 

What you need to know

The Twitter space will centre on the latest trends from the political fallout between the Central Bank and political leaders, as well as the failure of the banks in implementing the CBN’s policy. 

Recall that in October 2022, the apex bank announced the nation will have new N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes, which were released in December 2022.

The financial regulator had disclosed that the transition will be completed within two months, with 31, January 2023, given as the deadline for the old Naira to cease being a legal currency. 

However, the banks and the CBN have been unable to fulfil this due to insufficient currencies, according to the deposit money banks (DMB) and the refusal of the lenders to come to obtain their allocated banknotes, according to the apex bank. 

The blame game has continued even after the CBN extended the deadline by 10 days to 10, February 2023. While the CBN directed banks to provide customers with N20,000 new banknotes per day over the counter, the banks are issuing N20 and N50 to Point of Sale (PoS) operators who are supposed to facilitate the currency swap in underserved areas. 

Also, the banks were instructed to dispense the new Naira via the Auto Teller Machine (ATM), however, Nigerians have left empty-handed after approaching ATMs, while some banks dispensing the new notes only load one ATM out of about six in their branches. 

There has also been a revelation that bank officials are selling the new currencies, instead of dispensing them to the public through ATMs, causing scarcity. 

These are some of the issues that will be discussed on the Prime Business Africa Twitter space, with the Journalist providing more details as regards their coverage nationwide.