The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has denied scarcity of the new naira notes as alleged by some Nigerians.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, represented by Musa Jimoh, director, Payment System Management Department of the bank, denied the allegation in a news conference on in Jos.
”The CBN has massively supplied the new notes to commercial banks to dispense both at counters and ATMs.
”This is to enable quick circulation and we want to advice commercial banks to desist from keeping the cash away from the public or face the stiffer sanction,” he said
Mr Emefiele advised citizens to deposit their old notes at any commercial bank and acquire new ones with immediate effect, insisting that the January 31 deadline remained sacrosanct.
The CBN governor explained that the decision to redesign the currency shows that the apex bank is in tandem with global standard, adding that currency notes ought to be redesigned within five years.
He, however, regretted that it took Nigeria nine years since such changes was last effected.
Speaking during a ‘monitoring and sensitisation’ exercise held in some locations in Jos, the CBN governor said that the decision to redesign the country’s higher denominations of currency was a national project aimed at addressing problems related to cash circulation.
