Naira Swap: Jigawa Government Cries Out Over Scarcity

The Jigawa State government says it is concerned with the low supply of new naira notes to Deposit Money Banks (DBMs) in the state.

The state Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Babangida Gantsa stated this at a news conference in Dutse.

He said the supply of the redesigned naira to most of the commercial banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was grossly inadequate, thereby making it difficult for them to meet the demand of their customers.

Gantsa, who monitored transactions in some banks, said that most of the Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) were not dispensing cash to customers across the state.

“Some of the bank managers talked about their challenges, one of them claimed that he was only given N2 million of new notes by the CBN today," he said.

The Commissioner said the situation had exposed residents of the state to difficulties in accessing the new banknotes.

“Some customers spent up to nine hours on queue while others claimed to have spent the whole night on queue.

“The distribution of the new notes was just a name in Jigawa but the reality is that bank customers were spending hours in anticipation of cashing at the ATM without any results,” NAN quoted him.

The commissioner called on the CBN to ensure an adequate supply of the new notes to the banks or reschedule its deadline.