The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Thursday announced that he met with the Managing Directors of 15 deposit money banks (DMBs) as part of the apex bank’s efforts to ease the current cash crunch in the country.
According to him, the meeting was held following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive in his national broadcast to the nation early in the day during which he mandated the apex bank to immediately address the cash crisis nationwide.
Emefiele, who made these disclosures during his interaction with State House correspondents shortly after attending a meeting between President Buhari and the House of Representatives Ad-hoc committee on new Naira redesign and Naira swap policy, appealed to Nigerians to allow the policy to work in view of its benefits to the nation’s economy.
He promised that the apex bank and the DMBs and other financial institutions (OFis) would work very hard to ensure that the old N200 notes are circulated nationwide with immediate effect.
It would be recalled that President Buhari had earlier today in a national broadcast directed the apex bank to extend the deadline for the use of old N200 notes till April 10, 2023.
The President blamed ‘unscrupulous officials’ in the banking industry, who were entrusted with the process of implementing the new cash swap policy for the Naira scarcity nationwide and expressed his pains over the unintended hardships the implementation had caused millions of ordinary Nigerians.
Buhari said: “I am not unaware of the obstacles placed on the path of Nigerians by unscrupulous officials in the banking industry, entrusted with the process of implementation of the new monetary policy. I am deeply pained & sincerely sympathize with you all, over these unintended outcomes.
“To stem this tide, I have directed the CBN to deploy all legitimate resources & legal means to ensure that our citizens are adequately educated on the policy; enjoy easy access to cash withdrawal through the availability of the appropriate amount of currency; & ability to make deposits.
“I have similarly directed that the CBN should intensify collaboration with anti-corruption agencies, to ensure that any institution or person(s) found to have impeded or sabotaged the implementation should be made to bear the full weight of the law”, the President added.
