New Naira Note Unavailabilty Distabilizing Business
Millions of Nigerians are being refused access to their money, which has increased tension throughout the nation.
Thousands of homes are writhing in anguish due to a lack of cash, even as many have run out of necessary goods. The sensations range from the agony of a botched electronic money transfer to the agony of waiting interminably in line to use an Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
The conventional cash stations (bank tellers) have stopped operating in the midst of such difficulty because they are out of both old and new notes of currency. Top bankers informed The Guardian in separate conversations that they had halted the cash transfer because they were concerned about possible sanctions from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Fears that the old naira notes wouldn’t be redeemable after the February 10 deadline for the naira swap policy expired were allayed by CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele yesterday, ending days of standoff with the House of Representatives during which the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, threatened to issue an arrest warrant on the head of the central bank.
He made a commitment to follow Sections 20, Subsections 3, 4, and 5 of the CBN Act when he testified before the Ado Doguwa-led House of Representatives ad hoc committee.
The CBN boss said Nigerians could be rest assured that they would be allowed to deposit their old naira notes with the apex bank even after the deadline as stipulated by the CBN Act.
