The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has stated that it will have to go into the strong rooms of commercial banks to investigate alleged hoarding and other unhealthy practices, which are among the difficulties preventing consumers from accessing the new currency notes.
Maxwell Okafor, CBN Branch Controller in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, explained yesterday the federal bank’s ongoing direct cash swap for Rivers citizens, particularly those without bank accounts.
“The honest reality is that the situation is not straightforward,” Okafor remarked, assuring that the direct swap will last until the naira exchange deadline. Many banks are making the procedure excessively difficult.
“For us to enter the bank today to assist these POS operators, it took a lot of pains. I wonder if Nigerians goes through this pains when we are here, what happens when we are not here.
“For hoarding, we will need further exercise to establish that. It means we have to go into their strong rooms, check how they disbursed what they have, ATM, individuals before we can establish that. But the process is slow and we are pleading with banks to make the process easier.”
Banks Hoarding New Naira Notes Will Be Punished – CBN Reveals
On the direct cash swap in Rivers, he said, “Tomorrow, we are going to Buguma, Omoku, Ahoada, Oyigbo, Onne, Eleme. So we will gradually cover all the hinterland of the state to make sure we exchange money directly for persons, especially those who do not have bank account.
“We are going to cover all local government areas in the state. It is unfortunate, anybody not able to exchange his own before the deadline will loose his money, but we are augmenting efforts of the banks to make sure as much as possible, everybody has opportunity to exchange the old naira.”
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