The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has denied the shortage of new naira notes as alleged by some Nigerians.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, represented by Musa Jimoh, Director, Payment System Management Department of the bank, denied the allegation at a press conference in Jos.
“The CBN has largely supplied new notes to commercial banks to dispense at counters and ATMs.
“This is to enable quick circulation and we want to advise commercial banks not to keep money from the public or face tougher sanctions,” he said.
Emefiele advised residents to deposit their old notes in commercial banks and get new ones with immediate effect, stressing that January 31 remains sacred.
The CBN governor explained that the decision to redesign the currency shows that the top bank is in line with global standards, adding that the currency notes must be redesigned within five years.
However, he regretted that it took Nigeria nine years since the change was last made.
Speaking during a ‘monitoring and sensitization’ exercise held in several locations in Jos, the CBN governor said the decision to redesign the country’s currency is a national project aimed at addressing problems related to cash circulation.
He added that it would also address the longstanding challenges of savings in deposits, cash hoarding and incidents of counterfeit currency.
“The Monitoring and Sensitization Project was activated by the apex bank to investigate the attitude of banks towards the spread of the new currency.
“We also used it to create awareness about the use of agents to distribute cash in communities with few or no bank branches,” he explained.
He advised that the errant currency should be returned to the banks for exchange and warned the entertainers that the CBN may extend the deadline to stop as it may incur losses.