From Uche Usim, Abuja
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Godwin Emefiele, Thursday disclosed that about N1 trillion has been deposited in commercial banks as Nigerians get set to receive the newly redesigned naira notes by December 15.
Emefiele made the disclosure in Abuja, after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on latest developments in the economy.
According to him, “At the CBN, we have taken more than a half trillion and in the banks, we also have close to half a trillion.
“But what we have done in the central bank is to move more people from different departments into currency processing so that they can process this cash as quickly as possible and from there, banks can now move what they have with them”.
On the CBN’s preparedness to circulate the new notes into the banking system, Emefiele said banks received the new cash on Wednesday and have started dispensing it.
“I can only just assure you that it will go round. Let us just be calm.
Luckily, the old currency continues to be legal tender till January 31, 2023. So, I want to crack a joke, both the painted (new notes) and unpainted (old notes) will operate concurrently as a legal tender. But by January 31, the unpainted one will not be useful to you again, so please take it to your bank as quickly as possible’, he advised.
On President Muhammadu Buhari’s response after briefing him on latest developments in the economy, especially the new naira roll out, Emefiele said: “He was very very happy and said we should carry on with our work. No need to fear, no need to bother about anybody”.
The CBN boss also said the Senate’s summons, are regular occurrences as the CBN needs to brief the legislative arm of government.
“From time to time, we brief them about what is happening and about our policies and I’m aware that they have asked for some briefings and we will brief them. “But I think it’s important for me to say that the cashless policy started in 2012 and on almost three to four occasions we had to step down the policy because we felt that there is a need for us to prepare ourselves and deepen our payment infrastructure in Nigeria. Between 2012 and now 2022, almost 10 years, we believe that a lot of electronic channels have been put in place that will aid people in conducting banking and financial service transactions in the country. We heard people talk about some of the citizens in the rural areas and the truth is that even online banking, as I was coming out to Daura, I saw a kiosk that had a super agent today. It’s because of the way we felt that there was a need for us to deepen the payment system infrastructure. We have 1.4 million super agents that are all over different parts of the country, all local governments and all villages in this country. And I have told my colleagues, some of their names are already on the CBN website and we will publish all the names of all the super agents.