Economy

By Olaitan Oye-Adeitan

There appears to be no end in sight yet to the daily struggle for naira notes by Nigerians who spend almost the whole day in Banks.

It’s almost two months now that Nigerians have been grappling to withdraw cash from their bank accounts but encountering different tales and disappointments on a daily basis.

Online money transfers which had been an option to salvage the situation whenever transactions were made by individuals have also not been without tales of debit errors and transfers not received of which victims have to besiege affected banks to lodge complaints and struggle to gain entrance into the banking hall in most cases.

Many people had thought the situation would have been normalized after the Central Bank Of Nigeria, CBN, obeyed the supreme court order which says the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes remain legal tender until December 31, 2023.

It was also the belief of many that with the just concluded Governorship and House of Assembly in elections in most parts of the country, the issue of naira scarcity would have become a forgone matter since part of the reasons for the naira crunch was to check vote buying.

But many bank customers now spend up to five hours in banks and waiting on long queues under the scorching sun just to get cash.

While some succeeded others returned disappointed.

“For how long will this continue”? is the question on the lips of Nigerians.

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Economy

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has received a total of 165 billion worth of Naira notes so far, following its call on Nigerians to deposit all old notes in circulation.

CBN’s Director of Currency, Rasheed Adams made the confirmation on Wednesday at a post-briefing of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.

The director explained that the figure is far beyond the expectations of the apex bank, one month after the announcement was made.

Mr Rasheed expressed concern that a few Nigerians had applied despite various concessions by the apex bank on deposits, emphasizing that there would be no extension on the January 31, 2023 deadline.

The Central Bank of Nigeria also noted that a total of N2.7 trillion is currently outside the banking system.

Culled/Adetutu Adetule

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