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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has bent backwards and waived some of the conditionality for accessing currency notes in order to accommodate commercial banks in the country to pick up the newly redesigned Naira notes.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele made this disclosure while calling on commercial banks to approach the apex bank branches across the country to pick up the new Naira notes.
Emefiele made the call when the apex bank took its sensitisation tour on the adoption of the newly redesigned naira notes to Computer Village, Ikeja, on Wednesday in Lagos.
He said that the new naira notes were in the apex bank’s vaults awaiting pick up by the commercial banks.
“We have been calling upon the banks to approach the Central Bank of Nigeria across the country to come and pick up the new notes; we have even waived some of the conditionality for accessing currency notes in order to accommodate the banks.
“The banks were being given slots before, but now the Central Bank of Nigeria is bending over backward to accommodate the demands of the banks in order to service them, so that they can service you and so that everybody will have access to the new naira notes,’’ Emefiele said.
Emefiele who was represented by Mr Kofo Salam-Alada, Director, Legal Services Department, CBN, said that the apex bank was seriously working to ensure that the new notes permeated everywhere.
He said that the apex bank was currently going round commercial banks to monitor banks and their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to ensure that they stopped paying customers the new naira notes over the counter but via the ATMs.
Emefiele said: “part of what we are doing is that we have monitors going around the banks now, I have been to some ATMs this morning and I’ve lodged a report and I’ve spoken to the management of the various banks.”
He also said that penalties await any bank which failed to come and pick up the new notes and failure to lodge money into their ATM machines.
He assured the marketers that the experiences they were having would soon be sorted out.
Emefiele urged them to call these numbers- 08176657641, 08176657642, 08176656721, 07080650791, and send messages to [email protected], should they have any problem accessing the new notes.
Emefiele reiterated that the Jan. 31 deadline for the submission of the old naira notes was sacrosanct, urging people to go and deposit their old notes and not to be caught unawares.
He urged people to also make use of the enaira and other electronic channels to transact their banking business, adding that the apex bank was already taking steps to increase the number of merchants to good position where enaira would become acceptable.
The President of the Coalition of Associations in Computer Village, Mr Timmy David, urged the CBN to enforce their mandate by ensuring that the new notes were accessible before the deadline.
“There should be no banks that should not be given the new naira notes from the ATMs, all ATMs should load the new naira notes.
“As we are giving the old notes, we should be able to take back the new notes; this will enable people to transact their day to day business. If the machines are not dispensing the new notes, then it will not circulate,’’ he said.
Emefiele and his team visited the Palace of the Olu of Ikeja Land, and was received by the Olukosi of Ikeja Land, Chief Lateef Oluseyi.
Emefiele briefed him on the apex bank’s new policies and its decision to change the old 1,000, 500 and 200 denominations.
He also washed the new N1000 note with water to clear the doubts of some sections of society about authenticity of the new notes.
Redesign of Naira notes not targeted at any group or persons – CBN restates
Meanwhile, the CBN Branch Manager in Imo State, Mrs Boma Oruwari has restated the position of the apex bank that the decision to redesign the Naira notes was not targeted at any group or persons.
Mrs Oruwari stated this when officials of the Imo branch of the CBN on Wednesday visited the Owerri relief market to sensitise traders on the need to deposit their old notes in the banks before the January 31 deadline.
The exercise is part of efforts to introduce the newly-redesigned naira notes to the traders and urged them to accept them as legal tender.
Addressing the traders, the Branch Manager, Mrs Boma Oruwari, said that the banknotes that were being phased out remain legal tender till January 31, 2023.
She said that as such, they should not be rejected as a means of exchange for the purchase of goods and services.
According to her, the old notes were phased out for a variety of reasons, including shortage of clean and fit bank notes, counterfeiting, high cost of cash management and abuse of the naira.
“These issues and challenges made the Central Bank to change and redesign the higher denominations of N1,000, N500 and N200 bank notes.
“Now that we have changed and redesigned these higher denominations, we are here in relief market to explain that only three of the current eight denominations were redesigned;
“All other banknotes, N5, N10, N20, N50, and N100 are not affected and the decision of the CBN to redesign three denominations of the naira is not targeted at any group or persons,” she said.
The branch manager also said that the current banknotes that were being phased out will circulate side by side with the redesigned banknotes till the deadline.
She also said that there were no limit to the amount individuals or corporate bodies can deposit during the transition period and no charges on bank deposits.
“Visit your commercial bank to deposit the old notes. Those without bank accounts are encouraged to visit banks of their choice to open accounts.
“Account opening is easy. You can also approach the nearest CBN authorized agent to make your deposit if you reside in a rural area.
“There is no limit to deposit of N1,000, N500, N200 banknotes an individual or corporate body can make during the transition, and there are no charges on bank deposits.”
She further noted that there was no outright exchange of new banknotes for old notes deposited in the commercial banks.
She also encouraged the traders to explore other payment channels such as eNaira, Point of Sale, Electronic transfers, internet Banking, Mobile money operators and agents, for banking transactions.