The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has apologised to Nigerians for the double pain of lack of cash and an increase in unsuccessful electronic banking transactions, assuring them that his staff are working hard to find solutions.
To avoid NLC strikes, the CBN head also directed the transfer of both old and new currencies to commercial banks.
He remarked at the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the monetary policy committee that took place in Abuja earlier this week.
The majority of Nigerians are currently experiencing a cash crunch and terrible banking experiences due to the unreliability of banking transactions made through their mobile apps, USSD platforms, and debit cards, which makes them easy prey for other Nigerians posing as Point Of Sale (POS) operators. The latest redesign of the naira is to blame.
Commenting on the subject, Emefiele stated that the apex’s department in charge of managing the bank payments system is working to ensure that problems with the electronic banking channels are rapidly fixed.
Read also: CBN: Old Naira notes remains legal tender in Nigeria
“I have to apologise. Online channels do in fact fail. Yet, it is undeniably due to the flood of online transactions that slammed the financial sector. Nonetheless, a solution is being found,” Emefiele stated.
“Our payments system management section keeps an eye on the online payment platforms every day to make sure that any outages are immediately fixed so that business may continue as usual.”
He also applauded fintechs for easing the burden on traditional banks and enabling easy transactions for Nigerians.
Cash shortage to go on
Emefiele explained that the implementation of the naira redesign policy is what caused the reduction of currency outside the banks, which may go on for a while because the apex bank need to reassess the currency in circulation to prevent the situation of people hoarding monies by keeping them outside the banks for personal benefit.
“The truth is that at some point we will need to reassess to know whether the currency in circulation has attained an optimal level so as to put in place measures to ensure that we don’t go to the level where we were when people kept money outside the banking system for their own benefits”. Emefiele said.
“At the beginning of the naira redesign policy we said that there was about N3.23 trillion in circulation out of which only N500 billion was held in the banking system, while N2.73 trillion was outside the banks.
“It was published on March 22, that currency in circulation is close to N1 trillion. CBN will continue to pump the newly redesigned currency into the market.” the CBN governor said.
CBN meets with NLC over strike intentions
In its latest move, the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, called on workers to stop all activities in all branches of the CBN nationwide. It also called for the Abuja headquarters to be shut down due to the cash crunch in the country.
According to NLC president Comrade Joe Ajaero, Nigerians have been subjected to untold hardship occasioned by the scarcity of naira notes to attend to medical needs and other areas of need.
In a swift response, the CBN called for an emergency meeting with congress. The CBN representatives appealed to the NLC President to shelve its strike no plans that about two billion naira was pushed out on Thursday alone in a bid to address the hardship. They promised to ensure that the scarcity of naira notes would end as quickly as possible.
NLC President Comrade Ajaero, however, told the CBN delegation that he was only concerned and interested in seeing that workers and other Nigerians collect their money in banks without stress.
“ It does not bother us how much you pushed out, our concern is to see that this hardship comes to a stop.” Ajaero said.
He also them to hasten their work day and night to solve the problem, that strike actions are still possible depending on further feedback from Nigerian workers on the ease of getting their hard earned money from the banks. To alleviate the effects of the country’s severe cash shortage, THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sent extra banknotes to commercial banks. Isa AbdulMumin, the CBN’s acting director of corporate communications, made this announcement in a statement on Friday, March 24, in Abuja. The bank kept the commercial banks in the dark about how much it had taken.
According to the ICIR, the CBN’s action appears to be a response to the Nigerian Labour Congress’s (NLC) Wednesday directive for its members to picket the central bank’s offices nationwide starting on Monday, March 27, in protest of the cash crunch. The CBN stated on Friday that banks must be open on Saturdays and Sundays to serve their customers.
According to the statement, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, will visit banks with his team to ensure compliance. He gave orders for all commercial banks to operate physically in the banking halls and fill their automated teller machines (ATMs) with cash. He also urged Nigerians to be patient and promised that the difficulties brought on by the redesign of the naira would soon disappear.