By Foluso Adelaja
The Naira redesign by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has continued to undermine the nation's commercial activities as it has now turned to a source of woes, inflicting more hardship on the people, particularly in the rural area, THE STATEPOST can now reveal.
Despite the recent directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to commercial banks to start issuing the new naira notes to Nigerians across the counter, scarcity of the new currencies still persist.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele gave the new directive during the week following outcries by Nigerians that the non availability of the new currencies at banks was causing great chaos to the country.
According to the governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, the new directive was to relieve Nigerians from the challenges they are experiencing with getting access to the new notes.
The apex bank governor maintained that the new directive will further reduce queues at the automated teller machines (ATMs) across the country.
Emefiele in the statement assured Nigerians that the new note will be available for collection at the counter.
However, Nigerians continued to languish as the new notes which the CBN said it would stop its acceptance as a legal tender by the 10th of this month is still very much elusive.
In separate interviews with NAN in Abuja on Friday, some of the operators said they pay an exorbitant fee which depends on the amount withdrawn.
Some Point of Sale (PoS) operators have made new claims about bank officials.
They claimed that even bank officials sell cash (both old and new naira notes) to them.
In separate interviews with NAN in Abuja on Friday, some of the operators said they pay an exorbitant fee which depends on the amount withdrawn.
To make up for the extra expense, they explained that they had no choice but to increase the charges paid by customers.
They further appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to penalise banks involved in the act.
An operator along Nyanya-NNPC road, who preferred anonymity, said she paid the extra charge to keep her business going.
”I paid a very high amount to get this money that I am giving to customers. If you look around here, other operators did not open,” she said.
”The woman (bank official) that I collect money from even increased the money today because she said that cash is scarce and she kept it for me because I called her earlier to do so.
”I pay according to the amount I collect. Sometimes, I pay as high as N5,000 for N50,000 to N70,000 that I collect from her.
”I charge N500 for every N5,000 withdrawn and N1000 for every N10000 withdrawn for me to recover what I spent to collect the money.”
Also speaking, Nnedi Ikonye, a PoS operator along Lugbe, said she paid N3,000 for withdrawing N65,000 in a bank.
”I was asked to pay N3,000 for the N65,000 that I withdrew from a bank and that is because I know someone in that bank,” Ikonye explained.
“That is just a token compared to what my colleagues are paying. They pay more because they don’t know people in the bank.”
Alphonsus Idah, a PoS operator at Mararaba market, urged the CBN to impose sanctions against banks who persist in selling cash to their customers.
This, he explained, would stop the untold hardship faced by citizens.
Another PoS operator, who pleaded anonymity, alleged that bank officials usually withdraw money for their clients.
“In some banks, ATM will not work even though they are loaded with cash,” the operator said.
“During close of work, the bankers will turn the machine on and queue to withdraw from the machine.
“The annoying thing is that one banker can hold like 10 different ATM cards and will withdraw from all of them. This is frustrating.”
Meanwhile, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has appealed to Nigerians to show understanding, adding that the redesigned notes will circulate and be accessible.
The apex bank also pledged to stop Point of Sale charges as the February 10 deadline for the swapping of old naira notes with new ones approaches.
Emefiele made the appeal at a special media briefing on the new naira notes, on Friday, in Lagos.
He noted he could see the protests and arguments surrounding the difficulty citizens were facing in accessing the new notes.
“I understand the agitation and I’m begging in God’s name, we are on our knees begging people to please show understanding. They should be calm.
“In our meetings with the banks, we have told them to set up tents and chairs, give people numbers, which I’m sure some people will say it is old fashioned.
“But at this time that we’re trying to get the currency in circulation amongst everybody, people have to have numbers and they come in under a queueing arrangements that when you come in you get served, if it finishes, just be patient.
“By tomorrow, when you come back, they will start from where they stopped, you will not be cheated.
“Let’s just be calm and adopt a good queueing system, the assurance we give is that it will eventually go round.
“Eventually the limits will be raised and eventually the limits will be removed and people will be able to conduct their business transactions in a way that it has always been in the past,” Emefiele said.
On high charges by the Point of Sale agents on every transaction made by their customers, the apex bank governor urged banks to stop the charges on the PoS.
“I am going to be calling a meeting with the banks this evening or by tomorrow, if those charges go to or those charges have been charged through the bank, we are going to have an arrangement with even telcos to see how those charges can actually at this time be stopped.
“Those charges at this time should be stopped. So, if we know whatever you are making that you’re not making because we stopped it, we can collect it somewhere and look for a way to pay you.
“But we don’t want you to continue to create pain on those who want to use alternative channels when they cannot have cash in their pocket.
“We will go into this later this night or even tomorrow, we’re going to call a meeting of both the banks and the mobile networks; at this time nobody should be charged, if you are charged, we will need to know about it.
“But we would want this service to continue to be offered. Whatever it is in terms of volume and number that you have carried out. We will look for away to pay you your money,” he said.
NAN reports that the redesigned naira notes comprising N200, N500 and N1,000, came into use on Dec. 15, 2022, after they were unveiled by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Nov. 23, 2022 in Abuja.
The CBN had earlier fixed Jan. 31 as deadline for the collection of old naira notes, but later extended the time limit to Feb. 10.
The CBN governor had said the extension was to allow Nigerians that had naira legitimately earned and trapped the opportunity to deposit their money for exchange.
The governor had ordered banks to load their Automated Teller Machines with the new naira notes to ensure Nigerians had access to them.
Additional Reports: NAN
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