From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned commercial banks in the country to immediately start issuing the new naira notes to their customers through the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) or face serious sanctions.
The CBN Director of Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisobi who gave the warning at the Ariaria International Market, Aba, Abia State
during an awareness and sensitization programme organized at the apex bank for traders in the market for the new naira note, said all commercial banks have been directed not to issue the new notes across the counter.
He said that all commercial banks must load and only issue the new Naira notes through the ATM so that they will circulate to everybody before the 31st January 31, deadline.
Nwanisiobi advised traders to quickly go to their banks and deposit all the old notes, warning that at the expiration of the deadline, the old Naira notes of 1000, 500 and 200 will no longer be legal tender.
Giving reason for the introduction of the new Naira notes, the CBN Director of Corporate Communications said it was done because out of N3.26 trillion cash circulating in the economy, about N 2.7 trillion was outside the banking system, a situation he said was crippling the economy.
“We have too much cash outside the banking system. There are so many people hoarding the notes and we want this cash to come into the system. People hoard billions of naira in their houses and that’s not good for the economy. We want all the cash to be into the system,” he said
Throwing more light on the apex bank’s decision, Nwanisiobi said the CBN Act permits it to change the Naira every eight years, adding that most of the cash presently in circulation was nearly mutilated and CBN needed to create a new note to make things better.
He warned traders against abusing the new naira notes, stressing that the security of the new notes has been enhanced and anybody who abuses the note will face the law.
He urged the traders to report to the CBN branch of any commercial using ATM to issue the old notes, through the complaint phone numbers given to them, assuring such banks would be sanctioned.