…Say: Apex Bank not supplying enough
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–Pix(above): CBN Gov Godwin Emefiele
Nigerian deposit money banks (DMBs) have pooh-poohed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s claims that the apex bank had printed enough new naira notes, but expressed dismay that the purported scarcity being experienced was sequel to their (DMBs)’s refusal to pick them up.
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The deposit money banks which honoured the House of Reps’ summon on Friday, 27 January 2023, put a lie to the CBN’s claim, stating their own side of the story.
Hadiza Ambursa, an official of Access Bank who represented the bank’s Managing Director in the meeting with lawmakers, said they only got 10 percent of the money deposited with the CBN.
She said: “We are not getting the money as quickly as we want them. We only get 10 percent of the money deposited. We are paying as we are collecting money. We are also loading our ATM.”
Jimoh Garuba, representative of the Sterling Bank, said the bank receive allocation weekly from CBN but had not have sufficient fund to meet its customers’ demand.
Garuba said: “As we speak, our Automated Teller Machine (ATM) is dispensing what we received which fluctuate most times.”
He said his bank received a minimum of N150 million from the CBN weekly to be shared among its branches in Abuja.
According to him, the bank received N150 million weekly in Kaduna which is shared among its branches across the 36 states of federation.
“We received N100 million weekly and we can only dispense through ATM and not through the counter. If we are to go through the counter to dispense the money, the allocation will go in less down 10 minutes,” he added.
He said the percentage of money received from the CBN varies on weekly basis, adding that it receives 80 percent of what it deposited in Abuja and less than 10 percent in Kano.
Garuba blamed the shortage of the new naira notes in circulation on the CBN’s cashless policy.
Arerepade Akagwe, representative of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), said the bank had only taken 70 percent of the old money it deposited with the CBN.
Responding, the Chairman of the ad-hoc committee set up by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, said the banks’ appearance before the committee was not a witch-hunt but a fact-finding mission.
Meanwhile, lawmakers have threatened to arrest Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor, and bank CEOs, if they failed to come forth to shed more light on the matter.
The threat of arrest came after the apex bank had refused its request to extend the deadline for the deposit of the old notes by six months and also the failure of Emefiele to appear before the House.
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila threatened to invoke the provisions of Section 89(D) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to compel the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emiefele to appear before the House.
Section 89 gives the parliament power to issue a warrant of arrest on anybody who refuses to honour an invitation from them.
For bank CEOs who failed to appear before the House, the Speaker of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila also warned of arrests.
With the bare-it-all revelation of the DBMs at the House, Nigerians are now asking aloud, ‘who is deceiving who?’
For a Kano-based lawyer, Sunusi Umar Sadiq, who, on January 25, 2023, prayed the Federal High Court in Kano to restrain the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its Governor, Godwin Emefiele, from phasing out the old currency notes of N200, N500 and N1000 by January 31, 2023 as planned, the apex bank’s only intent is to throw poor Nigerians deeper into hardship and supervise them losing their hard-earned money.
Making the prayer in his ex-parte application in suit FHC/KN/CS/19/2023 filed on January 25, 2023, Sadiq who is the sole applicant, asked the court to stop the respondents from pending the hearing and determination of his January 25 Originating Motion. The CBN and Emefiele are the 1st and 2nd respondents in the suit.
The applicant listed seven grounds for his application.
These include; that “Up to 20th January 2023, the redesigned currency notes are not within any remarkable and substantial circulation as the commercial banks all over the country continue to issue the existing currencies.
“Likewise, the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) continue dispensing the same currency notes which the respondents claim to intend to withdraw from circulation.
“The respondents (CBN and Emefiele) are very much aware of the scarcity of the newly redesigned currency notes and their unavailability to the general public so much so that the respondents have to threaten the commercial banks with sanctions if they continue withholding the redesigned notes.
“The respondents, similarly, upon realising the infeasibility of making the newly redesigned currency notes available to the public within time, came up with a cash swap arrangement, effective from 23rd January 2023, to reach out to the rural and underserved areas.
“The respondents, despite being aware of all these, still insist on 31st January 2023, to be the last day the now in circulation N200, N500 and N1000 will cease to be the legal tender.”
He argued further that the ex-parte application is necessary because of the limited days remaining to the deadline imposed by the respondents.
Additionally, he argued that there is not enough time within which the respondents can be served, and the substantive application heard.
“Moreover, unless this application is granted, the substantive suit will become a mere academic exercise.”
Sadiq stated in his supporting affidavit that the global standard best practice for changing or redesigning currencies, is to give a reasonable time within which the currency notes intended to be replaced would have been withdrawn from circulation by the normal bank and monetary operations.
He argued that even in Nigeria, that has been the practice from the 1970s to 2010s “with the exception of 1984, which exercise threw many into poverty to the present day.”
He noted further that “there is no proof that the January 31, 2023 deadline will stop ‘individuals who have made currency fraud their main source of income’ or stop the payment or receipt of ransom by bandits and kidnappers as hoped by the CBN.”
In his view, “the only thing that is certain to come out of the intended action of the respondents (CBN and Emefiele) is that millions of innocent Nigerians will be thrown into deeper hardship, with respondents only supervising them lose their hard-earned money.
The State Online had earlier reported that henceforth, deposit money banks which refuse to collect the redesigned naira notes for circulation ahead of the January 31, 2023 deadline will draw the ire of the Central Bank of Nigeria, as the apex bank has decided to fine them N1m per day for each box of new naira notes they refused to pick up. The CBN said the cumulative number of days in default may also be considered, to serve as deterrent.
This much was revealed by the apex bank on Friday, January 22, during a sensitisation programme organised for the Osun market women at Ayegbaju market to acquaint them with the new naira notes of N200, N500 and N1000.
Speaking at the event, the Deputy Director, Research, CBN, Adeleke Adelokun, claimed that CBN had printed enough (?) new naira notes, expressing dismay that the purported scarcity being experienced was sequel to banks’ refusal to pick them up.
According to Adelokun, time has come for the apex bank to wield the big stick, with a view to ensuring its directives do not fall on bare floor, hence the need to issue the fine.
The State Online further recalled that the new redesigned naira notes were introduced on December 15, 2022, with over a month’s grace to make them generally available, but the deposit money banks prefer to disburse the old notes for reasons best known to them.
The artificial scarcity ‘created’ by the DMBs may have created the lacuna which has given rise to the counterfeited notes to be more available, even as many citizens have not seen or touched the genuine notes.
…As CBN bows to pressure, extends old naira use deadline till February 10
Meanwhile, as at the time of filing this report, the Central Bank of Nigeria has, this morning, Sunday, January 29, extended the deadline for the use of the old notes till February 10, 2023, following public outcry.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced the extension in a statement signed and released few hours ago.
The Governor may have bowed to pressure on the heels of Nigerians crying aloud for an extension of the deadline, on the basis of severe scarcity of the new notes in circulation.
The CBN governor had earlier insisted that there won’t be any extension to the policy, saying kidnapping and ransom-taking have reduced since the three banknotes were redesigned.
He also said the time given for the swap of the old naira notes with new ones were enough for Nigerians to go to commercial banks and get new notes. /SHARE THIS
- Tags: CBN, Godwin Emefiele, Access Bank, Sterling Bank, UBA, Bank MDs, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, Hon Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, Redesigned naira notes