There are concerns the apex bank may not be able to fulfil the January 31 objective, which is the date the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, established for the cessation of the circulation of the old Naira notes.
This is especially true in light of certain Nigerians’ concerns and disappointments over the lack of fresh naira notes and the apex bank’s management of the situation.
Remember that the CBN declared its intention to develop, print, and distribute new series of N200, N500, and N1,000 notes in October of last year. The highest denomination of Nigeria’s eight legal currencies is the three-note note.
The new currency notes went into circulation starting on December 15, 2022, after President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the new designs on November 23, 2022. Both the new and old notes were then deemed legal tender until January 31, 2023.
Between Monday and Friday of last week, PulseNets investigated several bank branches and ATM galleries in the Abuja Federal Capital Territory to check for compliance with the CBN directive.
The Central Business District, Maitama, Utako, Kubwa, Wuse, and other locations were visited by our correspondent at various bank branches.
Findings revealed that the majority of them were still giving out outdated notes to their clients. Also, over-the-counter consumers were being given obsolete notes.
Our reporter, who used the ATM at the Access Bank branch in Abuja’s Utako District, claimed that old notes in the amounts of N500 and N1000 were being given to clients. The same information was reported in additional places our reporters visited.
Additionally, a few of the PoS vendors operating in the Kubwa, Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) claimed that they did not have any new notes to give to their clients and that, of the N100,000 in bail they received from the bank, only N1,000 worth of new notes were given to them.
The CBN had reiterated that January 31, 2023, would remain the timetable for the gradual phase-out of older currency from circulation despite worries about the limited availability of the new notes.
According to information obtained by PulseNets, the top bank recently ordered the implementation to start right away and sent a directive to the banks on Wednesday.
However, as of last weekend, the banks had not followed with the top bank’s mandate since they had stocked their ATMs with the old notes due to complaints over the lack of fresh notes.
The CBN recommended Nigerians to make sure they deposited all of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes in their hands by the deadline, even though it insisted that the current series of N200, N500, and N1,000 notes would continue to be legal money until the January 31 deadline.
It also indicated that the old notes’ usage will not be extended past the specified date.
“The current series of N200, N500 and N1,000 notes would remain legal tender until the deadline of January 31, 2023,” the CBN wrote on its Facebook page over the weekend.
A Nigerian economist and the CEO of the Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE), Muda Yusuf, responded to the situation by saying that the CBN had drastically miscalculated the effort required to make currency available throughout the nation.
During his Monday appearance on the morning show programme of Arise Television, Yusuf stated.
He claimed that the apex bank’s deadline of January 31 is unreasonable.
He said, “The CBN should be a lot more sensitive to developments in the environment. Obviously, from what we can see, the evidence abounds everywhere; we are dealing with a situation of a capacity problem on the part of CBN, capacity in terms of the production of the new notes and capacity with respect to logistics.
“Obviously, the CBN has grossly underestimated what it takes to make these currencies available across the country. If we are getting these kinds of feedback and stories from cities such as Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano, What are we going to say about people in the more remote places in other States outside of these major cities?
“As I speak to you, I have not seen the new currency notes beyond what I see on the screen and things like that. Yet, we have practically just about three weeks to the deadline. This is clearly unrealistic, and I wonder if sometimes the CBN behaves as if they are on a different planet from where we are. This is obviously unrealistic; you see, the deadline is unrealistic. Frankly, I don’t understand what the rush is all about. I don’t know what they want to achieve.”
The CBN has been questioned by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) on the lack of fresh naira notes just a few weeks before the deadline.
HURIWA encouraged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, in a statement to pursue currency hawkers and powerful individuals who have scooped up the scant number of fresh currency notes that the central bank just distributed.
“About three weeks after the release of the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes by the CBN, millions of Nigerians, even those in cities like Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and other places, are yet to see or touch the new naira notes. The situation is particularly worse in remote places and villages.
“Whereas, black marketers, politicians and expatriates continue to get access to crispy naira notes but deny millions of ordinary Nigerian bank depositors access to the new notes despite the approach of the deadline of January 31, 2023,” it said in a statement.
Dr. Anayochukwu Basil Chukwu, a financial expert from the Alex Ekwueme Federal University in Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, told PulseNets about the situation and said that the CBN was unprepared for the goals they had set for their programme.
The financial expert pointed out that many Nigerians, particularly those in rural regions, weren’t bank customers and said it would be challenging for them to adapt to the new policy.
He said, “The CBN is not prepared to do the needful. Their body language and policy direction have not been in favour of what they want to achieve.
“Actually, they want to make sure that the economy is placed on a very good footing, but as it is, it is like they are not prepared for the policy directions that they have set out for themselves.
“I think there is a need for them to shift the deadline because, as it stands, most people, even those in urban areas, are yet to access the new naira notes, not to talk of those who are in the villages.
“This policy, if they don’t shift or reverse it, will cause a lot of difficulties, especially for those who are not among the bankable communities because a lot of people are outside the banking sector.
“More than 30 million Nigerians, if I am not mistaken, are out of the banking sector, and if they don’t have bank accounts and all those things, I wonder how they will cope with the new policy direction.
“The central bank should, by virtue of the situation in the country, shift that deadline to make it more realistic.”
