Mr Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday, told the Diplomatic Corps that an extension of the February 10 deadline for the circulation of the redesigned N200, N500 and N1, 000 notes was unnecessary.
He spoke at the meeting on the redesigned Naira policy held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja.
Emefiele spoke on a day governors of Kano and Ogun states, Abdullahi Ganduje, and Dapo Abiodun, respectively, threatened to shut down banks in their states, if they continued to reject the old naira notes.
However, the CBN governor noted the challenges posed by the policy but assured that it would be brief since his team was working assiduously to address the issues it had thrown up, including the availability of the new notes.
He blamed the scarcity of the new notes on the activities of some unscrupulous bankers and members of the society, who were trying to sabotage the policy, warning that such people would be sanctioned along with Point of Sales, POS, operators imposing heavy charges on customers.
The CBN governor said: “PoS agents who are supposed to help are getting involved in these activities.
‘’We have EFCC, ICPC working with our monitoring team to arrest any PoS agent that charges any fee because we have made it clear that whatever is their fee, which is not meant to be more than N200 for any amount you exchange that we, CBN, will pay as part of our effort to lessen the burden of this problem.”
Some POS operators charge as much as 20 to 30 per cent of the amount customers withdraw in new notes.
He noted that some powerful public figures are trying to exaggerate the inconveniences arising from the policy but said there is no justification to create undue panic in the society.
According to the CBN boss, the “tension and elevated agitation are by our leaders who should be calming frayed nerves of the citizens.
‘’We believe the large proportion of these agitations are staged, they are sponsored propaganda or an exaggeration of the reality.”
The Federal Government yesterday stated that it will take decision on the legality of the old currency notes of N200, N500 and N1000 after the determination of the suit filed by some state governments at the nation’s apex court.
Three states, Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara had dragged the Federal Government to the Supreme Court asking that the February 10 deadline by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, should be extended.
The court had fixed February 15 (today) to determine the suit.
Some Nigerians have accused the Federal Government and the CBN of contempt of court and are insensitive to the hardship many Nigerians are passing through as a result of the scarcity of cash.
But the Federal Government last night said that decision will only be taken after the determination of the suit in the Supreme Court.
