“Unfortunately, I don’t have good news for those who feel that we should shift the deadline. My apologies. The reason is because we feel 100 days should be enough for those who have the old currency to deposit the money in the banks.” – Emefiele
Agents from the Central Bank attending to residents of Kaltungo, during the CBN currency swap in Kaltungo Local Council of Gombe…yesterday. PHOTO:NAN• Senate urges CBN to soft-pedal, Reps seeks review of daily withdrawal limit• Learn from UK, HURIWA knocks CBN over last-minute cash swap• Explains why CBN is bailing out FG via Ways and Means
The decision of the House to ask for the extension followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by Sada Soli during plenary. Moving the motion, Soli said banking and other financial institutions are struggling to cope with the rush by citizens to change their old currencies to new notes, just as the shortage of new notes is creating panic.
Speaking in support of the motion, Abiodun Olujimi , stated that most Nigerians have not got the opportunity to touch the new notes, adding that the timeline for the implementation of the policy is too short. On the chaos already on the streets, Bayo Olorunpoda, a media executive, said yesterday: “I visited five banks today and none of the ATMs dispensed cash. The explanation was that banks didn’t want to load old naira notes in obedience to CBN instruction, yet they didn’t have enough new notes. Furthermore, most ATMs dispense N500 and N1,000 notes, either old or new.
“The reason is because we feel 100 days should be enough for those who have the old currency to deposit the money in the banks. And we took every measure to ensure that all the banks were open to receive all old currencies. 100 days, we believe, is more than adequate.” However, findings by the organisation indicated that about 20.1 per cent of the 38 million unbanked Nigerians do not possess identity documents , while 83.2 per cent and 85 per cent of the same population lack proof of address and documentation for tier-3 bank accounts respectively.
His words: “The insistence of the CBN Governor on the January 31 deadline is an indication that there is an ulterior motive for making notes that are currently in circulation illegal from February 1.” He, therefore, sought a one-year extension deadline by the CBN for all Nigerians, especially those in remote and unbanked areas to exchange their old notes for the new ones, citing the example of the United Kingdom, which unveiled its new notes on December 20, 2022 but gave the deadline of 2024 for banks to still swap old pound sterling for the new ones.
According to Jimoh, any ATM of any bank that dispenses old notes will be shut down summarily as there had been complaints that banks are not complying but are still issuing the old notes. Emefiele said: “N89 trillion is so large. The total asset of the banking industry if you understand accounting is about N71 trillion. The total deposit of the banking system is N44.49 trillion. So, how then is it possible that stamp duty is N89 trillion, while a deposit of banks is N44.49 trillion.
“And the balance with the account of CBN is N144,234,535,346.40. We did calculations and the highest collection from the oldest bank in Nigeria, First Bank, collected N71.6 billion in seven years. I truly don’t know where N89 trillion is?”
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