Bank Operators Accuse CBN Of Hoarding New Naira Notes, Deny Massive Supply

Operators of commercial banks in the country have countered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over claims that the former have enough naira notes in their kitty but are hoarding them.

The banks countered the CBN when their officials appeared before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the scarcity of the new notes and the January 31 deadline by the apex bank.

Hadiza Ambursa, an official of Access Bank, who represented the Managing Director of the bank said it only got 10 per cent of the money it deposited with the CBN.

"We are not getting the money as quickly as we want them.

"We only get 10 per cent of the money deposited. We are paying and collecting money. We are also loading our ATM.

Jimoh Garuba, the representative of Sterling Bank, said it receives allocation weekly from CBN but has no sufficient funds to meet its customers’ demand.

“As we speak, our Automated Teller Machine (ATM) is dispensing what we received which fluctuates most times.”

He said his bank received a minimum of N150 million from the CBN weekly to be shared among its branches in Abuja.

He disclosed that in Kaduna, the bank receives N150 million weekly which is shared among its branches across the 36 states of the 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 than 10 minutes.”

He said the percentage of money received from CBN varies on a weekly basis, adding that it receives 80 per cent of what it deposited in Abuja and less than 10 per cent in Kano.

He said the reason the newly designed note is not in circulation and it is a result of the cashless policy of the CBN.

Arerepade Akagwe, the representative of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), said the bank has taken 70 per cent of the old money it deposited with the CBN.

She said the bank collects money from CBN every day and today is not an exception, adding that the directive from the CBN was not to issue the old notes from the counter.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), other banks in attendance such as Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB), ECO bank, Lotus Bank and Fidelity agreed that they have collected 60 per cent of the old naira money deposited.

Lotus Bank, for instance, said in the last few weeks, what it was receiving was insufficient, adding that it received an average of N40 million weekly and that was not sufficient because the customers are many.

As of yesterday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) claimed that there is no scarcity of new naira notes, noting that it has supplied commercial banks massively with the new notes.